Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Ali Abdullah Muhammad Abu Hilal was born in the town of Abu Dis in the Jerusalem Governorate in 1955. He obtained a bachelor's degree in law from Cairo University. He worked as a lawyer and lecturer in international law.
Abu Hilal became involved in national work in his early youth, and joined the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He participated in planning and implementing its national activities in the occupied territories, and represented it on more than one occasion. He was prominent in union work, as he was a founding member of the Public Institutions Union in Abu Dis in 1979, and its secretary until 1985, and a founding member and secretary of the Workers’ Unity Bloc in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between (1980-1985), and a member of the General Federation of Trade Unions in the West Bank between (1982-1985).
Abu Hilal joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) abroad and worked in its offices. He became a member of the Palestinian National Council in 1989. He founded the Center for the Defense of Freedoms in Jerusalem in 1992 and served as its director until 2000. He is also the founder and coordinator of the Jerusalem Center for Democracy and Human Rights since 2003, and the coordinator of the European Alliance for the Support of Palestinian Prisoners/Palestine Branch. He has published numerous articles in newspapers and online addressing issues of democracy and human rights. He is a frequent guest on media outlets to comment on developments in the Palestinian cause and the occupation's actions against Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. He participates in international conferences to support the Palestinian cause, particularly the issue of prisoners in Israeli jails.
Abu Hilal published a book entitled “Palestinian Women: Reality and Challenges” (2019).
Abu Hilal suffered under the occupation. He was arrested by Israeli intelligence in 1974 and summoned several times for interrogation. He was arrested again in 1985 and deported to Jordan in 1986 along with Azmi al-Shuaibi (Deir Ghassan, Democratic Front) and Hassan Abdel-Jawad (Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Popular Front). He remained in exile until his return to Palestine on September 13, 1991, as part of a prisoner exchange between the Democratic Front and Israel. The Democratic Front handed over the body of Samir Asaad, a Druze soldier in the Israeli army, in exchange for Abu Hilal's return. Abu Hilal was arrested again in 2005 when Israeli forces raided the Dar al-Tifl al-Arabi school in Jerusalem during a meeting to discuss the situation of West Bank ID holders working in Jerusalem institutions. He was taken to the al-Maskubiya detention center, where he remained for a day before being released. The Israeli authorities then issued a ban preventing him from entering Jerusalem.
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