Shafiq al-Hout
Shafiq al-Hout | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 13, 1932 Jaffa, British Mandate of Palestine |
| Died | 2009 Beirut, Lebanon |
| Occupation | Chief Editor of al-Hawadeth (1958-64) PLO Executive Committee (1966-68; 1991-93) PLO Representative to UNGA (1974-93) |
Shafiq al-Hout also spelled Shafik al-Hut (Arabic: ) (January 13, 1932-August 4, 2009) was the co-founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and a senior member of the organization. He was a close aid to Yasser Arafat until a fall out with him resulting from al-Hout's rejection of the Oslo Accords.
Early life
Al-Hout was born in Jaffa in 1932 and raised there. He had graduated from the al-Amiriyya High School in the same class of Ibrahim Abu-Lughod and Farouk Qaddoumi.[1][2] The same year he graduated, al-Hout was expelled with his family to Lebanon at the onset of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. After graduating from the American University of Beirut with a BA in psychology in 1953, he took up the profession of being a teacher in Beirut's al-Maqassed School prior to his emigration to Kuwait in 1956 to teach.[2] Two years later, he returned to Lebanon where he given the post of chief editor of at the Lebanese magazine al-Hawadeth.[1] He soon gained a reputation of being a Nasserist (supporter of Gamal Abdel Nasser) writer. He authored several books in Arabic on the Palestinian issue.[1]
Political career
Al-Hout was of the founders of the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) in 1961,[2] the Palestinian faction which he supported throughout his life.[1] He had previously helped establish the PLF's newspaper Abtal al-Awda ("Heroes of the Return") in 1960 before the group's formation and after, he circulated the bulletin Tariq al-Awda ("Path of Return") in Beirut.[2] Al-Hout served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Arab Journalists Union from 1963 to 1967. He formed an alliance with Ahmed Shukeiri and attended the PLO's founding conference in Jerusalem in May 1964, becoming an original founder. He resigned from his post at al-Hawadeth to focus on his new post within the PLO.[2] Al-Hout was appointed representative and head of the organization's office in Lebanon during the first meeting of the PLO's Executive Committee.[1]
He also attended the first conference by the Palestinian National Council (PNC) and served as a member of the Executive Committee from 1966 to 1968. A number of other posts were also held by him including membership in the Executive Committee of the International Organization of Journalists from 1964 to 1976. Al-Hout became a founding member of the Union of Palestinian Writers since 1966. In 1976, an assassination attempt on him by the Palestinian faction as-Saiqa failed.[2] From 1974, al-Hout represented the PLO at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).[1] He was a founding member of the Arab National Conference since 1992.[2]
As a result of the 1993 Oslo Accords signed by Yasser Arafat, al-Hout resigned from his post in the PLO's executive committee along with Mahmoud Darwish, which he had rejoined in 1991 and discontinued to represent the PLO at the UNGA.[2] Nonetheless, al-Hout remained a member of the PNC and PLO offices in Lebanon until his death. He was one of nine PLO Executive Committee members, who signed a statement rejecting the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Otober 4 1995. Al-Hout remained critical of the PLO leadership’s stance and helps in the coordination of the Damascus-based Palestinian groups. Since 1996 he had been a member of the National Islamic Conference and became a founder of Mu'tamar al-Awda ("the Return Conference") since 2002.[2]
Death
Al-Hout died on August 4, 2009. The cause of his death was not clear, but an official at the Palestinian National Authority said he died of cancer. He is survived by his son Hader and two daughters Hanin and Syrine.[3] After a funeral service at al-Imam Ali mosque in Tariq al-Jdeideh, Lebanon, al-Hout's body was carried to the Martyrs of the Palestinian Revolution cemetery in Shatila.[4]
Attendees at the funeral procession included Lebanon's former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Lebanese MPs Alaaeddine Terro, Walid Jumblatt, Imad al-Hout, and the representative of Mahmoud Abbas in Lebanon, Asaad Abdel-Rahman. Abbas' consultant Moustafah Abu al-Rab, former deputy speaker Elie Al-Firzili, the head of the Journalists’ Union Melhem Karam, an Amal delegation headed by the president of Amal's political bureau Jamil Hayek, and a Hamas representative in Lebanon, Ali Baraka also attended. Karam commemorated al-Hout and gave condolences to his family, saying in his eulogy "Each moment of his life was filled with struggle and resistance... He wrote for a cause: for the dignity of the Arab people and for the holy land he tried his whole life to retrieve."[4]
Literary works
- The Left and Arab Nationalism. (1959) Cairo. Template:Ar icon
- The Palestinian between Diaspora and State (1977) Beirut. Template:Ar icon
- Moments of History (1986) Jeddah Template:Ar icon
- Twenty Years with the PLO: Memoirs (1986) Beirut. Template:Ar icon
- Gaza-Jericho Agreement First: The Inadmissible Agreement (1994) Beirut. Template:Ar icon
References
- ^ a b c d e f Shafiq Al-Hout, PLO founder, dead at 77 Ma'an News Agency. 2009-08-04.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Palestinian Personalities - H Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA).
- ^ Shafik Hout, former PLO spokesman who opposed 1993 peace accords with Israel, dies at 77 Associated Press. 2009-08-04.
- ^ a b Scores of mourners attend funeral for Shafiq al-Hout The Daily Star. 2009-08-04.