Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Bilal Ezz El-Din Hussein Al-Shakhshir was born on February 22, 1952, to a Palestinian family from the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank. He is married and has a son and a daughter. He attended elementary school at Al-Kindi and Al-Ma'ari schools, middle school at Amr Ibn Al-Aas School, and high school at Al-Jahiz School. He obtained his high school diploma in the humanities while imprisoned by the Israeli occupation in 1974. In 1982, he enrolled in the Faculty of Education at An-Najah National University to study psychology, but his arrests prevented him from graduating. He worked at the Palestine Library, selling cultural books, and served as Director-General of the Palestinian National Council from 1996 to 2013.
Shakhshir joined the Palestine Liberation Army in 1968 and the Democratic Front in 1969, the year he returned to Palestine, after which he joined the military wing. Upon his release from prison, he assumed responsibility for organizing the Democratic Front in Nablus, where he actively participated in directing its cultural, union, and volunteer activities.
Shakhshir served as coordinator of the Unified National Leadership in Nablus during the First Intifada. He was active in the issue of the return of deportees, forming, along with others, the Committee for the Defense of Deportees in 1991 and another committee for the defense of prisoners. He represented the Democratic Front on the Higher Leadership Committee of the Intifada, then headed by Fatah leader Abbas Zaki. Shakhshir also became a member of the Palestinian National Council in 1991. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords, he decided to leave the Democratic Front due to its opposition to the agreement, but he remained active within the National Council, assuming responsibility for the deportees' file and becoming a member of the editorial board of the Council's magazine. In 1996, Shakhshir returned to Palestine and worked to establish the National Gathering of the Sons of Martyrs.
Al-Shakhshir authored two studies, one on those deported abroad, published by the Badil Center in Bethlehem, and the other on Palestinian refugees abroad, published by the Palestinian National Council. He also wrote for Arab and Palestinian newspapers, addressing numerous political issues, particularly those concerning deportees and refugees.
Al-Shakhshir believes that the only option for Palestinians now is to stand firm against the occupation's policies aimed at ending the Palestinian entity. He believes that Oslo achieved some important accomplishments, such as the occupation's recognition of the Palestinian people and the return of thousands to Palestine. He considers it Israel's biggest mistake to have agreed to it, because it was the first time it recognized the Palestinian people as a people with a name, and acknowledged that they have a reference and leadership. As for the division, Hamas bears responsibility for it, as it does not want to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip. This reinforces the division and pushes matters towards the separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank. Al-Shakhshir believes that political partnership exists in practice, and everyone has the right to be within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization based on the organization's program, which is the realistic program. As for resistance, the current reality requires popular resistance.
Shakhshir suffered greatly under the occupation. He was arrested in 1968 and held in administrative detention for three months. He then joined the resistance, only to be arrested again in 1970 and sentenced to four years in prison. His family home was demolished for the second time. He was repeatedly summoned by the Israeli military governor, in addition to being detained for a day or a few days, totaling approximately 20 summonses and 10 detentions. He was arrested in 1977 and sentenced to five years in prison. He was also subjected to several administrative detentions between 1985 and 1987. He was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces in 1988 and deported to southern Lebanon a year later.
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