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- Country of residence: Portugal
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Hajj Hassan Hammad was born in the city of Tulkarm and studied in its schools. He mastered Turkish, in addition to having a good grasp of French and Persian. He worked as the head clerk of the Land Department. He was known for his dedication to expanding and spreading education. Through his efforts, the first kindergarten in the Ottoman Empire was established, and he brought in kindergarten teachers from Lebanon.
He recommended allocating the tax revenue to support the educational movement, and the Ottoman government approved his recommendation and implemented it in all provinces of the empire. He was also the originator of the idea of establishing a national school, which was founded through the efforts of several prominent figures in the city. This school became An-Najah Nablus School, which later developed into An-Najah National College, achieving a distinguished position and prestige in Palestine and the Arab world. It was further developed into a teachers' training college in 1965.
It became a university in 1977. He was appointed mayor of Nablus in 1913 and was elected as a member of the State Council in Beirut , representing Nablus. He joined the Decentralization Party, and the party chose him as its representative in Nablus. Jamal Pasha issued an order to arrest the members of the Decentralization Party in July 1915. Because the party was legal and recognized by the competent authorities in the Ottoman state, Haj Hassan did not think of fleeing.
He went to Bireh secretly to find out the truth of the matter, and returned to the country to hide in Jenin after he read in a newspaper the news of the judge’s decision to refer him and a number of Arab men to the martial law court. In a meeting between the families of the detainees and the notorious Jamal Pasha, he confirmed that the detainees' survival and release depended on Hassan Hammad surrendering himself. Hassan Hammad, therefore, returned to Beirut with the intention of surrendering himself, since this would lead to the release of his fellow detainees. While passing through Beirut on the night of Saturday, August 20, 1915, he noticed gallows being erected. The following morning, upon his arrival in Aley, where the military tribunal was located, he saw his name on a list of those sentenced to death.
Realizing that the notorious one was lying to frame him, he fled to Damascus and hid with a friend for three years. During this time, he married one of his friend's relatives, who bore him a child. He returned to Nablus and became a member of the Arab Congress held in Bloudan in 1937. He devoted himself to working in agriculture and trade and died in Nablus.
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