Success stories of Palestinian achievers from all over the world

Fouad Al-Shobaki

Personal Info

  • Country of residence: Palestine
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in: 1940
  • Age: 82
  • Curriculum vitae :

Information

Fouad Hijazi Muhammad al-Shobaki (Abu Hazem; born March 12, 1940 in Gaza) is a Palestinian politician and soldier with the rank of major general and a member of the Fatah movement. He is considered the largest prisoner in the Israeli occupation prisons and is called the Sheikh of Prisoners. Al-Shobaki was responsible for the central military financial administration in the Palestinian security services, a confidant of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, the Supreme Military Council of the Palestinian Revolution, and the Palestinian National Council.

 

his life

Al-Shobaki was born on March 12, 1940 in Al-Tuffah neighborhood in Gaza City. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Cairo University.

 

Al-Shobaki joined the Fatah movement, and moved with it to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. He was president of the Palestinian Equestrian Federation, mayor of Al-Zahraa, and honorary president of Al-Zaytoun Sports Club and Al-Tuffah Sports Club.

 

Israel allowed him to return in 1995 as a result of the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel.

 

On October 12, 1997, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Consumer Economic Corporation.

 

On January 3, 2002, the Israeli occupation army carried out a military operation called Operation Noah's Ark with the aim of stopping and controlling the MV Karine A ship in the Red Sea. Israel claimed that the ship was carrying military goods from Iran to the Palestinians and accused Yasser Arafat, Al-Shobaki and the Palestinian Authority of owning it.

 

Israel accused Al-Shobaki, the director of military finance in the Palestinian National Authority, of direct responsibility and considered him the mastermind in financing and smuggling the arms ship. Al-Shobaki denies responsibility for financing the ship.

 

In March 2002, Israel carried out Operation Defensive Shield, and later imposed a siege on the Palestinian presidency in the city of Al-Bireh, during which it demanded the extradition of Fouad Al-Shobaki and the Palestinians who had killed the Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze'evi. Al-Shobaki was investigated by the Palestinian Authority and imprisoned in Jericho Central Prison in May 2002 along with the killers of Rehavam Ze'evi, Ahmed Saadat and others who were under joint British-American and Palestinian security guards. Al-Jazeera reported that Al-Shobaki: "He expressed his understanding of the conditions of his detention in Jericho prison despite his acquittal by a Palestinian court, because the authority during the era of the late President Yasser Arafat - as he says - and after him was subjected to great pressure to arrest him against the background of the arms ship he was accused of financing." Yasser Arafat's siege ended with the transfer of Shobaki and Ze'evi's murderers to Jericho Prison.

 

On March 14, 2006, Israel carried out a military operation in the city of Jericho, during which it surrounded the central prison there and arrested Fouad Al-Shobaki, Ahmed Saadat and others.

 

The Israeli public prosecutor demanded a 25-year sentence for Al-Shobaki, while the court decided to sentence him to 20 years in prison. Later in 2015, a military court in Ofer Prison decided to deduct 3 years from his sentence, to 17 years instead of 20 years.

 

his personal life

Al-Shobaki is married and has 6 children. His wife passed away in 2011.

 

Al-Shobaki suffers from prostate cancer, and there is a suspicion of a cancerous mass above the kidneys. He also suffers from eye and stomach disease and high blood pressure.

 

On January 21, 2021, the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority announced that Al-Shobaki had contracted the 2019-nCoV, after he had contact with an infected prisoner while he was being transferred to the hospital for eye surgery.

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