Ramadan Abdullah Mohammed Shalah (; 1January 1958 – 6June 2020) was a Palestinian militant and politician who served as the leader of

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...

(PIJ) from 1995 to 2018. On becoming secretary-general of PIJ, Shalah was designated a Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT) by the United States on 27 November 1995. In 2006, he was placed on the United States

FBI Most Wanted Terrorists The FBI Most Wanted Terrorists is a list created and first released on October 10, 2001, with the authority of United States president George W. Bush, following the September 11 attacks. Initially, the list contained 22 of the top suspected terr ...

list. In April 2018, Shalah suffered a series of strokes, and on 28September 2018 was replaced by Ziyad al-Nakhalah as PIJ leader. During the 23 years of his leadership of PIJ, the group undertook numerous attacks on Israeli civilians, including suicide bombings; and has suffered extensive operations against its infrastructure carried out by the IDF, which resulted in severe losses to the group, and it appeared significantly weakened by 2004.

Early life

Shalah was born in

Shuja'iyya Shuja'iyya (), also ''Shejaiya'', ''Shijaiyeh'', ''Shujayya'', ''Shuja'ia'', ''Shuja'iya'', is the southern quarter of Old City of Gaza, and the only quarter of the Old City located outside the historical city walls. It is one of the largest neig ...

, a neighborhood in

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

. Shalah earned a Ph.D. in banking and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

in England. Professor

Sami Al-Arian Sami Amin Al-Arian (; born January 14, 1958) is a Kuwaiti-born political activist of Palestinian origin who was a computer engineering professor at University of South Florida. During the Clinton administration and Bush administration, he was ...

helped bring Shalah to Al-Arian's university, the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

, in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, where Shalah taught as an adjunct professor. Al-Arian and Shalah founded an Islamic think tank, World and Islamic Studies Enterprise (WISE). Shalah left the organization in 1995 to head

(PIJ). In February 2003, al-Arian, Shalah and five others were indicated by the United States

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

for supporting the PIJ and relatives of operatives who committed attacks against civilians in Israel. Al-Arian pled guilty to helping PIJ and was sentenced to 57 months in prison. Al-Arian said he was shocked to learn Shalah was "anything other than a scholar."

Palestinian Islamic Jihad activity

Shalah became PIJ secretary-general 1995 after the assassination of its previous leader Fathi Shiqaqi in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. On becoming secretary-general of PIJ, the United States named Shalah a Specially Designated Terrorist and offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction on 27 November 1995. In 2003, Shalah,

Abd Al Aziz Awda Abdul Aziz Awda, also known as Sheik Awda (born 1946 or 20 December 1950), is a Palestinian cleric who, along with Fathi Shaqaqi, founded the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization based in Damascus, S ...

, and six others were indicted in a 53 count indictment in the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida (in case citations, M.D. Fla.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against ...

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was e ...

(RICO) charges of alleged involvement in racketeering activities for PIJ, a US-designated international terrorist organization, which had conducted

suicide bombings A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

that killed Israeli and American civilians. Shalah was wanted for conspiracy to conduct the affairs of the PIJ through a pattern of racketeering activities such as bombings, murders, extortion, and money laundering. For that indictment, Shalah then became one of six alleged and indicted terrorist fugitives among the second and most recent group of indicted fugitives to be added to the United States

list on 24 February 2006, along with Abd Al Aziz Awda.

Death

In 2018, Shalah was transferred from his home in Damascus to a hospital in Beirut. He died on 6 June 2020 in Lebanon after a long illness that included two years in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

. His funeral was held in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

and was attended by Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who had replaced him as head of the PIJ movement.

Books

His writings include: *''Iqtiṣādīyāt al-mālīyah al-ʻāmmah wa-al-niẓām al-mālī fī al-Islām'', al-Jāmiʻāt al-Islāmiyah, 1984, 359 p. On

Islamic economics Islamic economics () refers to the knowledge of economics or economic activities and processes in terms of Islamic principles and teachings. Islam has a set of specific moral norms and values about individual and social economic behavior. There ...

, particularly

public finance Public finance refers to the monetary resources available to governments and also to the study of finance within government and role of the government in the economy. Within academic settings, public finance is a widely studied subject in man ...

. *''al-Gharb wa-al-ṣirāʻ ʻalá Filasṭīn fī al-qarn al-ḥādī wa-al-ʻishrīn'', Markaz Filasṭīn lil-Dirāsāt wa-al-Buḥūth, 1999, 35 p. On the West when it comes to the Palestinian struggle. *''Fī ʻayn al-ʻāṣifah : al-ḥiwār al-hāmm wa-al-shāmil alladhī ajratʹhu ṣaḥīfat al-Ḥayāh al-Landanīyah maʻa Amīn ʻĀmm Ḥarakat al-Jihād al-Islāmī fī Filasṭīn al-Duktūr Ramaḍān ʻAbd Allāh Shallaḥ'', Bisan, 2003, 112 p. Interviews.

References

External links

FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists wanted poster of Shalah

Rewards for Justice wanted poster of Shalah
from US State Dept., similar to the preceding
Islamic banking in an interest-based economy : a case study of Jordan.
Shallah, Ramadan Abdullah (1989) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shalah, Ramadan 1958 births 2020 deaths Alumni of Durham University FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Fugitives wanted by the United States Fugitives wanted on organised crime charges Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine members Palestinian Islamists Palestinian mass murderers Leaders of jihadist groups People convicted of racketeering People from Gaza City University of South Florida faculty Zagazig University alumni Palestinian expatriates in the United Kingdom Palestinian expatriates in the United States Palestinian expatriates in Lebanon Palestinian expatriates in Syria 21st-century Palestinian politicians 20th-century Palestinian politicians People of the Second Intifada