Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Youssef Moussa Rizqa was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on January 20, 1951, to a Palestinian family originally from the occupied city of Jaffa. He is married and has nine children. He studied primary school in UNRWA schools and secondary school at Khalid Bin Al-Walid High School, from which he obtained his high school diploma in 1969. He then enrolled in the UNRWA Teachers' Institute and earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic Language and Literature from Ain Shams University in Egypt in 1973, a master's degree in Literary Criticism from Omdurman Islamic University in Sudan in 1988, and a doctorate in Literature from Ain Shams University in 1992. He worked as a teacher in government schools between 1973 and 1986, and as a lecturer at Bethlehem University, then as a lecturer at the Islamic University. He held administrative positions at the Islamic University, including Dean of Student Affairs, Vice President of the University for Administrative and Financial Affairs, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts between 1992 and 2006. He was appointed Minister of Information and Religious Endowments and Affairs between (2006-2007), Political Advisor to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh between (2007-2014), and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Palestine newspaper between (2014-2021).
Rizqa belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and was part of the Palestinian Brotherhood student organization in Egypt in the early seventies of the twentieth century. He worked in the administrative office headed by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in the central region and assumed the presidency of the political committee between (1975-1986). He joined Hamas immediately after its formation and participated in planning and implementing its national activities. He was a member of its leadership in the Gaza Strip between (1989-1990), a member of the movement’s media committee between (2006-2016), a member of the general Shura Council, and a member of the movement’s political leadership in the central region.
He went on official visits on behalf of the Palestinian government to several countries such as Turkey, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar, and was Palestine’s representative at the annual Arab Media Conference at the League of Arab States in 2006.
Rizqa writes political and cultural articles, and has published a number of books, including: The Difficult Path (3 parts), The Life of a Mujahid: Hassan Ahmed Zahd 1961-2004, The Experience of Resistance and Uprising and its Prospects until 2015, and Media with Biographies of the Martyrs of the Al-Aqsa Uprising in the Central Region. He also participated in preparing chapters of published books, and has a number of other research papers and studies published in specialized magazines and websites.
Rizqa believes that the Oslo Accords delayed liberation, contradicted Palestinian history, and cannot be praised from either a national or legal standpoint. He argues that the Accords failed to achieve even the most basic Palestinian aspirations, granted the occupation the right to expand settlements and Judaize the land, removed Fatah from armed struggle, and created a weak self-governing authority that serves the interests of the ruling elite, thus contributing to the division of the Palestinian people. Rizqa supports all available forms of resistance, especially armed resistance, which he considers the foundation of the conflict with the occupation and the only language it understands. He advocates for working in parallel with all forms of resistance, depending on the political situation. He believes that the issue of the PLO's membership is a pointless and contentious one; the PLO does not belong to the Palestinian people, but rather to those who created it—the Arab regimes that facilitated the negotiations and the signing of the Oslo Accords. These regimes refused to admit any faction to the PLO without recognizing the agreement. Therefore, he argues that reforming the PLO and making it the authority for all factions is an impractical option and merely a publicity stunt.
Rizqa emphasizes the inevitability of liberating Palestine and ending the Israeli occupation. He argues that this is not a matter of years, but rather a matter of action. The more Palestinians, the Arab world, and the Muslim world advance toward liberation, the faster the end of Israeli control and the achievement of freedom will occur. He maintains that no matter how much normalization and political concepts evolve toward recognizing Israel and cooperating with it, the majority of the people reject this idea and affirm the theory of conflict. He believes that the Arab regimes control the Palestinian cause in various ways and are currently negatively impacting it. Arab regimes are succumbing to American and Israeli pressure and feel defeated, especially after the 1967 and 1973 wars, when they lost confidence in themselves and the possibility of victory. Furthermore, the Oslo Accords served as a bridge for Arab states to normalize relations with the occupation and engage in joint cooperation with it. However, we cannot ignore the popular dimension, which is entirely aligned with the Palestinian people and affirms the idea of liberation. The intellectual solution for liberation, it is believed, affirms that Palestine is Arab and Islamic land and will be liberated from the river to the sea. As for how this liberation will be achieved, this depends on the political situation and capabilities; it may be done in stages or in a single phase. It is emphasized that the return of refugees to their homes from which they were displaced is the only solution, and according to UN Resolution 194, they must also be compensated. The Palestinian political system is considered fundamentally democratic, but in practice, it is dictatorial, as evidenced by the absence of elections and the corruption within the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian cause, in its current state, requires Palestinian unity, with resistance as the foundation of their unity and path, avoiding any internal conflicts. The idea of a unified, resistant society is what Palestinians need to advance their liberation.
Rizqa suffered under the occupation; he was arrested in 1990 and sentenced to thirty-six months and a fine of 2,000 Jordanian dinars. He was also arrested by the Palestinian Authority security services in 1996 for several months.
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