Draft:Abdel Aziz Rantisi

Abdel Aziz Rantisi
Name	Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi
Personal Details
Birth Place	Yibna, Palestine
Brith Date	23 October 1947
Death Place	Gaza Strip, Palestine
Death Date	23 March 2004
Religion	Islam

Abdel Aziz Rantisi was a Palestinian militant from Ashkelon. His family was expelled by Zionists and went to the Gaza Strip, settling in the Khan Yunis camp. At the age of six, he joined a school affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). At this age, he was forced to work to help his large family, who were going through difficult conditions, and he completed his secondary education in 1965 CE. He was one of the seven leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in the Gaza Strip who also cooperated with Hamas.

After a short period following the succession of the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, he was assassinated by Israel and martyred.

Biography

He was born on 23 October 1947 CE, in the village of Yibna, east of Jaffa and near Ashkelon.

He describes his childhood memories as follows: My father passed away while I was at the end of middle school; therefore, my older brother was forced to travel to Saudi Arabia for work.

Abdel Aziz was one of the excellent students who qualified him for a scholarship in Egypt funded by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and there he studied pediatrics for 9 years and graduated from the faculty. He received a Doctor of Medicine from Alexandria University in 1972 CE, later obtaining his Master's degree in pediatrics, and then in 1976 CE, he began working as a resident physician at Nasser Hospital (the main medical center in Khan Yunis). Dr. Rantisi held several positions during the public period. Including: membership in an administrative body in the Islamic Society, the Arab Medical Society in the Gaza Strip, and the Palestine Red Crescent, and working at the Islamic University of Gaza from its opening in 1978 CE, starting as an instructor in courses on science, genetics, and parasitology.

Cooperation with the Muslim Brotherhood

Regarding the beginning of his activity with the Muslim Brotherhood, he says: During my studies in Egypt, I was greatly influenced by Sheikh Mahmoud Eid and Sheikh Ibrahim al-Mahlawi. Both preached in the mosques of Cairo and were members of the Muslim Brotherhood. After returning to Gaza, he held bold thoughts in his heart and mind that led him to the Islamic movement, making him not only in Gaza or Palestine, but in the world, one of its most prominent symbols. He added: The political speeches were passionate; because Mahmoud Eid supported the cause of Palestine and at that time strongly opposed Anwar Sadat, which had an effect on me. It was the occupation of Israel in 1981 CE that placed him under house arrest, and then he was arrested due to his refusal to pay taxes to the occupying authorities.

One of the Founders of Hamas

He was one of the seven leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in the Gaza Strip who cooperated with Hamas. The incident of a Zionist trailer colliding with a Palestinian workers' vehicle and the death and injury of all vehicle occupants was a planned move. Especially since this incident occurred after a series of provocative actions by the Zionist regime that targeted the dignity of Palestinian youth. Especially university students who were always on alert and almost every day engaged with the occupying forces. As a result of this intentional driving incident, a spontaneous angry march took place in Jabalia, resulting in the martyrdom of one martyr and a number of injuries. The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip, led by Rantisi, examined the matter and made an important decision to ignite an uprising in the Gaza Strip against the Zionist occupiers. That historical decision was made on the night of 9 Dey 1366 SH (30 December 1987 CE), and it was decided that "Islamic Resistance Movement" be announced as the title for the Intifada action representing the Islamic movement in Palestine, and the first statement was issued and signed. This historical statement, which announced the beginning of the Intifada, wrote that it would change the face of history, and the Intifada started and began from mosques, and the people of Palestine began a stage of the best stages of their jihad.

Regarding the story of the founding of the movement, he says: I was responsible for the Khan Yunis region in the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and in 1987 CE, we decided to participate actively in the uprising, and at that time I was seven years old. Along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Fattah Dukhan, Muhammad Shama, Ibrahim al-Yazouri, and Issa al-Nashar, we started the movement and chose a name for the movement which is "Islamic Resistance Movements", then its acronym was named "Hamas".

Leadership of the Movement

After the martyrdom of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin on 23/3/2004, he was unanimously elected as the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza. Al-Rantisi told a reporter who asked him about the (conflict) within Hamas over the succession of the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, saying: We do not compete for leadership... We compete for martyrdom together."

Mujahid Leader

He was a man engaged in politics, study, and war simultaneously, and had experienced bitter trials and hard wars in which his mujahid brothers preceded him to Jihad and Martyrdom in the way of God. He strove in the way of God and aspired for the freedom of Muslim countries from Palestine to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, the Philippines, and other Muslim countries, and fought against enemies on several fronts.

His Struggle Against Zionists

His first confrontation with the Zionist regime was in 1981 CE, when he was placed under house arrest due to refusal to pay taxes to the usurping occupiers, and was subsequently arrested. He was in the occupiers' prisons and spent one year in Marj al-Zuhur, after which he was deported along with 417 others in 1992 CE. He was the first Hamas leader to be arrested by occupier authorities in 1987 CE. They prevented him from sleeping for 6 consecutive days and placed him in a refrigerator for 24 hours, in addition to other forms of savage torture that lasted 20 days.

Return from Prison

After his release from prison, to fulfill his role in leading Hamas, he vigorously defended the positions and principles of the people of Palestine and was encouraged to resume the uprising, and was arrested several times by opponents.

Martyrdom

Following the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, the leader of Hamas, by forces of Israel, the leadership of Hamas within the movement was entrusted to him. While he had only held the leadership of Hamas for 26 days after Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, on the night of Saturday, 7 April 2004, his car was targeted on Jalaa Street in the al-Ghufri area in northern Gaza by a Hellfire missile from fighter helicopters of the Israeli Air Force army, and al-Rantisi, along with his son and his guard, was martyred at the age of 57. More than half a million Palestinians participated in the funeral procession of Martyr al-Rantisi and his companions who were martyred with him in Gaza on Sunday, 18 April 2004 alone. Following his martyrdom, widespread demonstrations were held in all Arab, Islamic, and foreign countries.

References

• See: Entry Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in Wiki Ikhwan; ikhwanwiki.com..