Ismail Haniyeh

File:Ismail Haniya.jpg

Ismail Haniya

Ismail Haniya (born 1962) (Arabic: إسماعيل هنية) is a senior political leader of Hamas. He is considered to be among the movement's most moderate leaders, although he still openly supports the Hamas charter commitment to Israel's destruction. He was selected on February 19, 2006 as the new Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority following the Hamas "List of Change and Reform" victory in the Palestinian legislative election of January 25, 2006. Haniya was voted (before the election, by Hamas) to the top of the list of candidates for the movement and was therefore the leading contender for the position of prime minister, succeeding Ahmed Qurei. He has a silly hat.

Biography

Haniya was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp, Gaza. In 1987, he graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Literature. In 1989, he was incarcerated for three years by Israeli authorities without charge and following his release, he was expelled to Lebanon. A year later, he returned to Gaza and was appointed as Dean of the Islamic University of Gaza.

After the release of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin from prison in 1997, he was appointed to head his office. In September 2003, he was slightly injured in his hand by an Israeli Air Force bomb attack attempting to eliminate the Hamas leadership. His position in the Hamas continued to strengthen during the Al-Aqsa Intifada due to his relationship with Yassin and because of the assassination of much of the Hamas leadership by the Israeli Security Forces. In December 2005, Haniya was elected to head the Hamas list which in January 2006 won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections.

On February 16, 2006, Hamas named Haniya to be Palestinian Prime Minister, an office he assumed on February 18.[1]