AL-HASANAT, SHEIKH HAMAD (1935-2015)

Born in 1935 to a peasant family from B’ir Sabe’ in the Negev (later Beer Sheba); fled with his family during the Nakba to Gaza; two of his brothers, Raji and Muhareb, were killed by the Israeli army in 1951; received a degree in Geography from Cairo University in 1963; geography teacher; leader of the Islamic movement, and one of the founders of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas movement in Palestine; founded the Islamic Society, a charity running kindergartens, schools, a healthcare centre, sports club and other facilities; was among the 419 mostly Islamic leaders that were exiled to Lebanon’s Marj Az-Zuhur in the winter of 1992; one of his sons, Yasser, took part in founding Hamas’s military wing Al-Qassam Brigades in the early 1990s; died on 2 March 2015 in Gaza.

SHEIKH HAMAD AL-HASANAT