Ghazi Hamad
Encyclopedia
Ghazi Hamad (b.1964 in Yebna) is
Chairman of the border crossings authority in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...



He holds a Bachelor degree in Veterinary Medicine [1] and speaks both English and Hebrew in addition to his native Arabic.

He is Editor of the weekly message previously and was previously Chief editor of Al Watan newspaper.

For 25 years he has been a member of Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...

, and he is the former editor-in-chief of the Hamas weekly newspaper Ar-Risala. As of October 2004, Mr. Hamad was also the head of the Islamic Salvation Party.

More recently he has assumed the role of a spokesman for Hamas, having gained considerable credibility through the popularity of his newspaper, his imprisonment by the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...

 under the Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...

 administration as well as his five year detention by the Israelis for activities related to Hamas. Mr. Hamad was editor at the time Al-Risala was shut down and he himself was imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority for publishing articles detrimental to the reputation of the PA, particularly its prison system. In August 2006 he wrote an article for Al Ayyam, a Palestinian
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...

 daily newspaper, stating that "Gaza is suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs," and "It is strange that, when a big effort is taken to reopen Rafah crossing to ease the suffering of the people, you see others who go to shell rockets towards the crossing. Or when someone talks about cease-fire and its importance, you find those who go and shell more rockets. Of course, I do not deny that the occupation committed massacres that cannot be justified. But I support negotiations over what can be fixed."

In 2006, responding to the Beit Hanoun November 2006 incident, Hamad was quoted as saying "Israel should be wiped from the face of the Earth. It is an animal state that recognizes no human worth. It is a cancer that should be eradicated." However, this was later denied.

On May 31, 2007, Hamad stated his willingness to accept a Palestinian State within the pre-1967 borders.

On September 23, 2011 after Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...

 formally asked the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

for Palestinian statehood, Hamad stated that he wasn't consulted, and was ill-prepared for it.
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