Hamas leader speaks out after controversy
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Hamas official Ahmad Yousef discusses why the movement issued a statement preventing the press from dealing with him as its spokesperson.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On Sept. 17, Hamas issued a press release denouncing media outlets for attributing prominent member Ahmed Yousef’s positions to the movement. It confirmed that Yousef his personal views and his positions do not represent Hamas in any way.
Hamas’ official statement is the first to be issued against a leading official of the movement. It came following Yousef's article and press statements in which he spoke of Hamas’ internal elections and their timing, and revealed that Hamas had prepared a new political document that includes its positions on all aspects of the Palestinian cause, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ties with Arab, Islamic and foreign countries.
Yousef, who was born in 1950, is married with eight children and lives in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. He is well traveled and has visited more than 30 Arab, Islamic and Western countries. Yousef graduated with master's degrees in industrial engineering from the University of Colorado in 1984 and in journalism from Columbia University in 1987. He holds a doctoral degree in political science from Columbia University (2004).
Yousef is the current secretary-general of the House of Wisdom for Conflict Resolution and Governance. He was appointed in 2006 as political adviser to then-Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and served as deputy foreign minister in 2009. He has written more than 30 books on the Palestinian cause, the Arab-Israeli conflict, issues related to Islam and the West and the Islamic movement’s affairs. He is also a member of various international intellectual and political leagues and unions, such as the Oxford Research Group, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Middle East Studies Association.
