Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Hassan Abdel Fattah Abdel Halim Khreisha (born March 20, 1955 in Tulkarm ) is a Palestinian politician and parliamentarian. He holds the position of Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council , and previously held the position of Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council . He is known for his positions rejecting the approach of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations , as well as his exposure of corruption files. He is an independent Palestinian political figure who enjoys the support of the Fatah and Hamas movements .
His upbringing and education
Hassan Abdel Fattah Abdel Halim Khreisha was born in the city of Tulkarm in the West Bank on March 20 , 1955 , the fifth son in a family of seven siblings. He received his primary, preparatory and secondary education in the schools of his city, Tulkarm , and completed high school in 1967 from the city's prestigious Al-Fadhiliyah Secondary School . In 1980, he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Medicine from King Edward University in Pakistan , and then a Master's degree in Obstetrics and Gynecology from Trinity College in Ireland in 1983. Khreisha is nicknamed "Abu Rafiq".
His professional life
He returned to Palestine in 1980 and worked as a doctor at Al-Mutala' Hospital in Jerusalem until 1982 , then worked as a doctor at Al-Zarqa National Hospital in Jordan, where he was banned from working in government hospitals. He was arrested in Jordan in mid- 1983 and deported to the Palestinian territories and transferred to Nablus Central Prison . He was released from Israeli prisons in early 1986. During this period, he married a dentist from Tulkarm . It was not long before the first Intifada broke out in 1987 and Hassan Khreisha played his role in treating the wounded of the Intifada in the city's camps and neighboring villages. He was arrested again in 1988 and released at the beginning of 1990. He continued his work as a mobile doctor between the different villages, and at the same time he was following up on organizational activities.
When he came to the Palestinian Authority, Hassan Khreisha worked in Ramallah Governmental Hospital and then in Jericho Hospital . This did not last long, as there were preparations for the Palestinian legislative elections, so he submitted his resignation from the Ministry of Health to nominate himself for the Palestinian Legislative Council elections .
He won the first legislative council elections in 1996.
He was elected as a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council after the 1996 Palestinian general elections, where he received 8,154 votes in the Tulkarm Governorate district .
Hassan Khreisheh ran for the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 1996. His electoral program focused on daily life issues and the general concerns of the Palestinian citizen. He adopted a number of issues of the poor, workers, farmers, and marginalized villages, specifically the village of Al-Hafasi, to win the council elections for the Tulkarm Governorate .
Hassan Khreisheh chaired the Oversight and Human Rights Committee in the Legislative Council, was a member of the Council’s Political Committee, and chaired a number of investigation committees, such as the teachers’ file, the Palestine International Bank, the Egyptian cement file, the flour file, and also the parliamentary investigation committee into the corruption file in the Authority, and chaired the investigation committees on the subject of public freedoms, political detainees, and those who died in Authority prisons.
Hassan Khreisheh achieved a success that is credited to him and to the citizens participating in confronting the project of quarries intended to be established by retired Israeli occupation generals and their companies in partnership with some Palestinians, and also foiling the other project of quarries between Jayyous and Kafr Jammal , considering it an Israeli project with some Arabic names. He and his colleagues in the council confronted the use of the Azzun area and the Jayyous landfill for toxic materials that the Israelis dumped there.
On the popular level, Hassan Khreisheh collected the signatures of more than six thousand citizens in the city of Tulkarm, demanding that Hilmi Hanoun remain as mayor of Tulkarm , considering that he was elected and had the full quorum to run the municipality, in rejection of the appointment policy that was used to replace mayors away from the legitimacy of some. It was the first time that a mass demonstration was organized against this trend, and also the first time that a minister in the Authority was questioned by the Legislative Council, as Saeb Erekat was the Minister of Local Government at that stage.
Since March 10, 2004, Khreisha has held the position of Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council ; on that day, the members of the Legislative Council elected Rawhi Fattouh as Speaker of the Legislative Council, succeeding Rafiq al-Natsheh , and Hassan Khreisha as Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council. Despite Khreisha being an independent candidate, he defeated the Fatah candidate for this position; as the Fatah representatives and representatives of the other parties voted for Khreisha.
He assumed the position of Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Hassan Khreisha assumed the position of Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council on November 11, 2004 , following the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat , and appointed Legislative Council Speaker Rawhi Fattouh as interim President of the Authority for a period of sixty days to prepare for the presidential elections.
His candidacy for the Palestinian presidential elections 2005
His colleagues officially nominated him for the Palestinian presidential elections in 2005 , and accordingly, the Speaker of the Legislative Council, Hassan Khreisha, announced his candidacy for the presidential elections on December 2, 2004 , during a press conference he held for this purpose, but he announced on December 8 , 2004, his withdrawal from the presidential race for political, national and personal reasons.
On January 15, 2005, the elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took the constitutional oath before the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hassan Khreisheh, in the presence of Rawhi Fattouh , President of the Palestinian National Authority . Thus, the process of transferring and handing over the presidency of the Palestinian Authority to the elected Palestinian President took place , and Rawhi Fattouh returned as Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council , and Khreisheh as Deputy Speaker of the Council.
He won the second legislative council elections in 2006.
Hassan Khreisheh participated again in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections , where he was elected and won for the second time as an independent representative for the Tulkarm Governorate in 2006. He again assumed the position of Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Council, and headed the popular campaign for national reconciliation, and submitted proposals for reconciliation to both Hamas and Fatah leaders , and submitted his resignation from the Presidency Office through a live press conference in which he said that as a result of the failure to bring together the two parties of the division to hold sessions of the Legislative Council.
Other positions
Member of the Palestinian National Council in the Palestine Liberation Organization .
Member of the Palestinian Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization .
Member of the Democratic Alliance bloc in the first Legislative Council.
Member of the Executive Committee of the Association of International Parliamentarians Defending the Palestinian Cause, headquartered in Beirut.
Vice-President of the Political Committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly .
Chairman of the Oversight and Human Rights Committee in the Legislative Council.
Chairman of the Investigation Committees in the Legislative Council.
Founder and Secretary-General of the “Watan Movement,” which is a political movement registered as a party body, and includes a number of politicians and former representatives of the Democratic Alliance bloc. This movement participated in the Palestinian local elections in a number of locations, and won local council members in some of them.
Prevent him from traveling
Israel prevented him from traveling outside Palestine during the period (2008-2016).
Assassination attempt and reactions
assassination attempt
Palestine woke up on the morning of September 4, 2014 to the news of an assassination attempt on Hassan Khreisheh; an armed group opened fire on his car after he left his home in the city of Tulkarm . Four bullets hit the car as he was driving it a few meters from the home of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in the city of Tulkarm ; Khreisheh’s home is located next to Rami Hamdallah’s home in the city.
Khreisha said after the assassination attempt: “Our voice will remain strong because it represents the voice of truth and right, and what they have done and will do will never frighten us, and we will remain in the memory of the people, and they will be thrown into the dustbin of history with their masters and teachers, the traitors.”
Feedback
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered the immediate formation of a committee to investigate the incident.
Hamas condemned the attack, saying it was a security breach, and called on the movement to arrest those responsible for the attack and bring them to trial.
The Palestinian National Initiative Movement condemned the incident, and considered this matter a serious assault that requires a responsible response. The movement demanded that the incident be followed up, the perpetrators be identified, and they be held accountable according to the law.
The Palestinian People's Party condemned the incident, and called on the security services to move quickly to uncover the perpetrators and bring them to trial immediately, and to provide the necessary protection for Khreisha.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned the incident.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned the incident.
The Palestinian Freedom Movement condemned the shooting, and considered what happened to be a blatant attack on a symbol of Palestinian legitimacy, considering Khreisha the deputy head of Palestinian legitimacy, and the movement called on the Hamdallah government to work to uncover the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front condemned the incident.
The Palestinian Democratic Union (Fida) condemned the incident.
The Palestine Liberation Front condemned the incident and called on the investigation committee formed by the president to immediately begin uncovering the perpetrators and bringing them to justice as soon as possible.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights condemned the shooting, and called on the official authorities to deal with this attack with great seriousness, open an immediate investigation to uncover those involved and bring them to trial, and publish the results of the investigation.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights condemned the incident.
Political movement to elect him as President of the Legislative Council 2018
In July 2018 , Hamas representatives , who represent two-thirds of the second Legislative Council, along with a number of Fatah representatives, agreed to elect Hassan Khreisha as Speaker of the Legislative Council, but the Legislative Council was dissolved in its entirety in December 2018 by a decision of the President of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Muhammad al-Haj Qassem .
Source
Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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