Member of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Mahmoud al-Zahar announced his resignation from the leadership of the terrorist organization, explaining his decision for “personal reasons.”
Mahmoud al-Zahar was born in 1945. His father was a Palestinian Arab, his mother an Egyptian.
At the age of 26, he graduated from Cairo University, Faculty of Medicine. Then he received a degree in general surgery from the University of Ain Shams, in Cairo. Then he returned to Gaza, where he became an adviser to the Minister of Health. In 1978, he was one of the founders of the Islamic University in Gaza, where he taught surgery. Al-Zahar’s colleague at the Islamic University was Abd al-Aziz al-Rantisi, who taught pediatrics.
In 1987, al-Zahar and al-Rantisi were part of an initiative group that, under the spiritual leadership of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and with the assistance of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, founded the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
Note that formally, al-Zahar cannot be considered one of the founders of Hamas, since he was not a member of the 1987 founding assembly. The participants in that meeting are referred to by Hamas as the “seven Mujahideen.” They were: Sheikh Ahmad Yasin (liquidated in March 2004), his assistant Dr. Abd al-Aziz Rantisi (liquidated in April 2004), Sheikh Salah Shhade (liquidated in July 2002), Dr. Ibrahim al-Yazur, Isa al-Nashar (later mayor of Rafah), Abd al-Fattah Dukhan and Muhammad Hassan Shama (died June 2011).
However, in 1989, al-Zahar was elected to the leadership of Hamas.
Al-Zahar was for many years the permanent representative of Hamas in negotiations with other Palestinian factions (in particular, he represented Hamas in negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization in January 1990).
In December 1992, for terrorist activities, he was expelled by the Israeli authorities (along with 300 other terrorists) to the Lebanese refugee camp of Marj al-Zuhur. After the start of the “peace process” (1993) he returned to the Gaza Strip. He was part of a private meeting with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
In June 2003, together with Ismail Abu Shanab (destroyed in August 2003), he represented Hamas in negotiations with the government of the Palestinian Authority.
Al-Zahar is considered one of the leaders of the “political wing of Hamas”, was the “foreign minister” of this organization. In numerous interviews, he has repeatedly stated that he is an employee of the “ideological front” and is not associated with the “Brigades of Izaddin al-Qasam.” However, the Israeli intelligence services consider his involvement in the planning of the attacks obvious. On September 10, 2003, the Israeli military attempted to destroy al-Zahara. He was wounded, but survived (then his son Khalid died). In 2008, another son of al-Zahar, Khusam, who was a militant of the al-Qasam Brigades, was killed in a clash with the Israeli military.
In recent years, Mahmoud al-Zahar has not held any formal post in the government set up by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He preferred the role of an informal “leadership spokesman” for Hamas in Gaza. He was a participant in negotiations with the Muslim Brotherhood after they came to power in Egypt. After the overthrow of Muhammad Morsi, the Egyptian military authorities accused al-Zahar of involvement in terrorist activities and deprived him of Egyptian citizenship.
In 2021, when the leadership of Hamas was re-elected, al-Zahar again did not receive any formal post. Nevertheless, he continues to be considered one of the most influential people in the power structures of Hamas.