Yahya Hammuda (, also

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

Hamoudeh or Hammouda ; 1908 – 16 June 2006) was the Chairman of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO) Executive Committee from 24 December 1967 to 2 February 1969, following the resignation of Ahmad Shukeiri. He was a veteran activist in Palestinian refugee affairs and a colorless left-leaning lawyer. His tenure as Chairman did not leave a mark on the organization.

Biography

Hammuda was born in the village of Lifta in 1908.

General Refugee Congress

Following the

Nakba The Nakba () is the ethnic cleansing; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their s ...

, Hammuda took part in an attempt to secure a role for an independent Palestinian refugee delegation to the Rhodes armistice talks together with Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari and ' Aziz Shehadah. He was a founding member of the General Refugee Congress (GRC). The first GRC gathering occurred on 17 March 1949 in Ramallah, where Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari was elected as President and Hammuda as deputy. They persevered with an attempt at securing formal recognition for the body, but they were marginalized by Jordan, where the GRC was based. The Palestine Conciliation Commission (PCC) hoping to gain a degree of independent

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

representation, invited GRC delegates to come and appear before them.Ilan Pappé (1992) “The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1947-1951” I B Tauris Ultimately the body was politically "ill-fated."

Role in the PLO and post-1967 politics

Hammuda was elected as acting chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization in late 1967. He had previously been a member of the PLO's Executive Committee.Ṣāyigh, Yazīd. ''Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997, 172, 176, 186. On January 21, 1968, Hammuda was received in Jordan by

King Hussein Hussein bin Talal (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Hussein was traditionally considered a 40th-generati ...

and prime minister Bahjat al-Talhuni in a public welcome to reinvigorate the PLO within Jordan. He was succeeded as chairman by

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

Views

In the aftermath of the 1967 war, while acting as PLO chairman, Hammuda publicly stated his belief that Jewish citizens of Israel could not be expelled to the countries from which they had emigrated. This "moderation" came under criticism from Palestinian factions who were troubled by Hammuda's apparent "willingness to come to terms with the existence of Israel." The statement was ultimately retracted. Historian Yezid Sayigh suggests that Hammuda was a "sympathizer" to the leftist Palestinian faction called the Popular Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (POLP, est. 1964 by Samir al-Khatib and 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Wajih). POLP had "a modest following" and "Maoist leanings" and sought "to bring all guerilla forces under PLA command within a single body."

References

External links

PLO Timeline
in Arabic. Palestine Liberation Organization members People from Jerusalem Palestinian refugees Palestinian politicians 1908 births 2006 deaths {{Palestine-politician-stub