Said Hammami
{{Short description|Palestinian politician, diplomat and journalist}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Said Hammami
| native_name = سعيد حمّامي
| image =
| caption =
| office = London Representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
| term_start = 1972
| term_end = 4 January 1978
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_date = 1941
| birth_place = Jaffa, Palestine
| death_date = 4 January 1978
| death_place = London, United Kingdom
| nationality = Palestinian
| party = Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
| religion =
}}
Said Hammami ({{langx|ar| سعيد حمّامي}}; 1941 – 4 January 1978) was a Palestinian politician, diplomat and journalist, and the London representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1972 until his assassination in 1978.{{cite web|title=Saʿīd Ḥammāmī {{!}} Palestinian nationalist|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Said-Hammami|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|accessdate=17 April 2018|language=en}}
Biography
Born in Jaffa in 1941, Said Hammami fled the British Mandate of Palestine with his family upon the breakout of hostilities which preceded the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
After a brief stop at a refugee camp in Egypt, his family moved to Lebanon and then settled in Jordan, where his father re-established himself as a fruit and vegetable trader.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} After attending high school in Jordan, Said Hamami moved to Syria for university education. It was in Damascus that his interest in politics took shape, as he joined the Arab Ba'th Party while still at college studying English Literature. After his graduation from university, he worked as a journalist in Damascus and then traveled to Saudi Arabia where he found a job as a school teacher. His stay there was not to last long, as his devotion to the Palestinian cause took him back to Syria, where he soon quit the Ba'th Party to join the Palestine Liberation Organization, soon after its establishment in May 1964. He quickly climbed the ranks of the organization and become a member of the Palestinian National Council at the young age of 30.
Hammami was appointed by Yasser Arafat to be the first diplomatic delegate of the PLO to the UK in 1973, heading their Office in London. There, he began to promote co-existence between the Palestinians and Israelis, calling for a two-state solution to the Question of Palestine. In 1974 and 1975, Said Hammami, in interviews to journalists and newspaper opinion pieces, articulated what has sometimes been considered the first indication of PLO acceptance of a two-state solution.Ayoob, Mohammed. The Middle East in world politics. 1981, page 90Cesarani, David. The Jewish chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991. 1994, page 230. A 1974 interview with Joseph Finklestone in The Jewish Chronicle was controversial among Israelis, because much of the Israeli populace of that period (including Golda Meir), held that "Palestinians" were not "a distinct entity" with a legitimate identity.
In London, he also established contacts with British politicians and journalists, as well as building relations with Israeli peace activists, most notably Uri Avnery, who wrote a book about him after his assassination, which he entitled My Friend the Enemy.
Assassination
Hammami was assassinated in his office in London on 4 January 1978, where he was serving as the representative of the PLO to the United Kingdom. The perpetrator was allegedly Abu Nidal's breakaway faction of the PLO. Hamami's funeral service was held in Beirut with the attendances of the PLO leaders on 8 January.{{cite news|title=Thousands join funeral march for PLO envoy|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS85557801/TTDA?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=0ee589f3|access-date=28 October 2023|work=The Times|issue=60205|date=9 January 1978|location=Beirut}}
See also
Sources
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{cite magazine| last=Said | first=Edward | title=Edward Said · A Road Map to Where? The Future of the Middle East · LRB 19 June 2003 |magazine=London Review of Books | date=19 June 2003 | url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v25/n12/edward-said/a-road-map-to-where | access-date=28 October 2023}}
- {{cite web | title=2002: The Year of 2's | website=Foreign Policy In Focus | date=28 December 2001 | url=https://fpif.org/2002_the_year_of_2s/ | access-date=28 October 2023}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammami, Said}}
Category:Assassinated Palestinian people
Category:Assassinated Palestinian diplomats
Category:Palestinian terrorism victims
Category:Palestinian people murdered abroad
Category:People murdered in England
Category:Terrorism deaths in England
Category:Ambassadors of Palestine to the United Kingdom