Haniyeh: I have been living in Al-Shati refugee camp since I was born until today in order to uphold my right of return

Ismail Haniyeh was born in Gaza, after his family fled Ashkelon in 1948 to the Strip, and in the Beach camp in particular, where he grew up in this camp where he lives until today, due to the right of return after the liberation of Palestine, according to him.

Haniyeh received his secondary education at the Al-Azhar Institute in Gaza, which is affiliated with Al-Azhar, and his studies lasted for 4 years from 1976 until 1980. He received his university education at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he joined the Islamic student bloc before the emergence of Hamas, during which time he was the head of the student union at the university.

Muslim Brotherhood

Regarding the history of the Muslim Brotherhood’s entry into Palestine and Gaza in particular, Haniyeh said that the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna, visited Palestine and the Gaza Strip in the 1940s, and since that visit they have had a presence in Palestine.

In the 1960s, arrests took place for the Brotherhood in Egypt, which also affected the Brotherhood in Gaza, because Egypt was ruling the Strip at the time.

He added that the Brotherhood's return was through the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1967 with Brotherhood leaders in the Gaza Strip, and he began working with them until 1987, and Haniyeh revealed the date of his joining the group in the early eighties, when he was 18 years old.

During his university studies, Haniyeh was the security official in his area in Beach Camp, within a device known as "Majd" affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza.

Haniyeh touched on the 1970s during the guerrilla action, which lasted a few years. He was a child at the time, seeing these operations before the occupation was able to silence them through killing and arresting their men.

Regarding Haniyeh’s management of the office of the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, he confirmed that the sheikh chose him to manage his office in 1997, after his release from prison, and Haniyeh said that the sheikh did not fear the Israeli occupation, but was strong with them, and was lenient with the movement’s sons, and that he was the one who reunited Al-Qassam Brigades, led by Abu Muhammad Al-Dhaif.

Haniyeh and the arrests

Regarding the history of the arrests that Haniyeh was subjected to, he confirmed that the first time he was arrested was on December 24, 1987, two weeks after the outbreak of the intifada, and the arrest lasted for 18 days, and two weeks later, on January 15, 1988, he was arrested again, but this time The detention was administrative and lasted 6 months.

Haniyeh was re-arrested in 1989 after the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip. He continued his detention for 3 years and paid a fine.

In 1993, Hamas kidnapped an Israeli soldier in the West Bank, at which time Haniyeh was deported to southern Lebanon, and the Israeli judiciary had ruled for two years of deportation, but the UN Security Council demanded the immediate return of the deportees, and the period was only one year.

The head of the Hamas political bureau affirmed that he believes in partnership and national unity, and does not detract from the efforts of any of the Palestinian political movements and resistance, pointing out that the literature of Hamas calls for partnership and unity in the face of the Israeli occupation until the liberation of all Palestinian territory.

Haniyeh concluded his speech that the movement, since its inception, has been working to liberate the Palestinian territories, and in all its phases it had a clear compass towards achieving this goal.