Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Omar Assaf was born in the village of Rantis in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in 1949, to a Palestinian refugee family originally from the village of Beit Nabala near the occupied city of Lod. He is married and has three daughters and a son. He spent his childhood in the Dar Ammar refugee camp northwest of Ramallah. He completed his primary education at the camp school and then his secondary education at al-Hashimiya School. He graduated from Ramallah High School in 1967 and earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic Language from Damascus University in 1972, followed by a master's degree in Contemporary Arab Studies from Birzeit University. He worked in the education sector from 1974, teaching at the Bani Zeid and Ni'lin schools. In 1980, he moved to teach at the Ahliya College in Ramallah. He worked at Birzeit University Library in 1982 and taught at the university in 1985. He returned to teaching in the public sector in 1997, and then worked in the private sector between 2000 and 2012.
Influenced by the rise of the national movement, Assaf became involved in its political activities early on. He was arrested by the Israeli occupation forces in 1978, and subsequent arrests followed, resulting in him spending more than eight years in Israeli prisons. Assaf was active in the labor movement, working with others to establish a national union framework for public school teachers. He was a member of a secret committee formed for this purpose, called the "Preparatory Committee for the Teachers' Union." He was dismissed from his job by the Israeli authorities in 1978. He was elected secretary of the Birzeit University Workers' Union and participated in forming the Federation of Workers in the Education Sector, which included university teachers, UNRWA staff, and private school employees. Through this federation, he and others organized several activities, including a 100-day strike by the Birzeit University Workers' Union.
Assaf contributed to the establishment of the “Unified National Leadership” at the beginning of the First Intifada. He was pursued by the occupation between 1990-1991, and a decision was issued against him to be expelled from Palestine. He was also active in the movement to defend government teachers after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, so he was arrested by it in 1997 for two weeks. In 2000, he was re-arrested for fifty days following a radio interview with “Love and Peace” radio, in which he held the Palestinian Authority responsible for the teachers’ strike, and he was accused of describing the late President Yasser Arafat as corrupt.
Assaf is active in committees defending the right of return, the BDS campaign to boycott the occupation, the anti-normalization campaign, and campaigns to end the division. He also ran in the legislative elections in 2006 but did not win, while he won membership in the Ramallah City Council in 2012. Assaf participated in many Palestinian, Arab and international conferences concerned with the Palestinian cause.
Assaf writes political articles and is hosted on satellite channels and radio stations to talk about the latest developments in the Palestinian issue. He has published several books, including: The Movement of Government School Teachers in the West Bank 1967-2000, Palestinian Democracy Between Discourse and Practice 1993-1994, and Democracy Under the Authority.
Assaf embraces Marxist ideology and identifies himself as an opponent of liberal policies and the Zionist movement. He believes the future favors the Palestinian cause, especially given the decline of American global hegemony, the rise of other powers like China and Russia, and Trump's new policies. He also cites regional shifts, particularly Syria's resilience and the defeat of the Gulf states, as well as the bankruptcy of the current Palestinian leadership, especially the Oslo leadership. This, he argues, will pave the way for the emergence of new, radical forces on the Palestinian scene that will rebuild the national project and its tools. He opposes the Oslo Accords, viewing them as the second Palestinian Nakba, arguing that they marked the end of the national project, diminished the role of the left, undermined Palestinian values, transformed the Palestinian struggle into terrorism, facilitated Arab normalization with the occupation, and led to settlement expansion. He believes the agreement granted the occupation Palestinian recognition of its right to exist and maintain its security. He attributes the division to Fatah's refusal to accept the election results and the peaceful transfer of power, its insistence on maintaining its hegemonic position, and Hamas's totalitarian mindset and haste in resorting to military force. This, he contends, has created personal and factional interests on both sides that hinder reconciliation. He believes ending the division requires popular pressure in the West Bank and Gaza that surpasses American pressure. The Israelis are on both sides of the divide, in addition to activating the role of other forces, including Islamic Jihad and the left, to participate and leave the position of spectator. Assaf believes in the right of the Palestinian people to practice resistance to obtain their rights, including armed resistance that has been authorized by the United Nations, in addition to other forms such as boycott, popular resistance, and intifada.
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