Ziyad al-Nakhalah

Ziyad al-Nakhalah
زياد النخالة
al-Nakhalah in 2024
Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
Assumed office
28 September 2018
Preceded byRamadan Shalah
Personal details
Born (1953-04-06) 6 April 1953 (age 71)
Khan Yunis, All-Palestine Protectorate, Republic of Egypt
NationalityPalestinian
Political partyIslamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
Residence(s)Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria[citation needed]

Ziyad al-Nakhalah (sometimes Ziad Nakhale; Arabic: زياد النخالة; born 6 April 1953) is a Palestinian politician who is the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).[1][2]

Nakhalah was born in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip in 1953. His father was killed by the Israeli army during the 1956 Khan Yunis massacre. Nakhalah trained as a teacher in Gaza City. In 1971, al-Nakhalah was sentenced to life imprisonment in Israel because of his militant activities with the Arab Liberation Front, and was later released in a prisoner swap in 1985.

After his release from Israeli prison, he was tasked with establishing the PIJ's military wing in the Gaza Strip, the Al-Quds Brigades.[3] Al-Nakhalah was detained again by Israel in April 1988 for his role in the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation, and was exiled to Lebanon in August 1988 with other PIJ leaders. Nakhalah became deputy secretary general of PIJ in 1995, and was later elected secretary general of PIJ in 2018.

On 23 January 2014, Nakhalah was designated a Specially Designated Terrorist by the United States, resulting in his property and interests in the United States being frozen.[4] Since 28 September 2018, the PIJ has been declared a terrorist organization by several countries.[5]

  1. ^ Ward, Euan (25 October 2023). "Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders met to plot a path to 'victory.'". The New York Times. In a photo of the meeting released by Hezbollah's news media arm, Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of the Lebanese militant group and political party; Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas; and Ziad Nakhale, the secretary-general of Islamic Jihad, sit beneath framed portraits of Iran's supreme leaders.
  2. ^ Ynet (18 April 2022). "Rocket fired from Gaza, intercepted over border communities, IDF says". Ynetnews. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference jpost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Ziyad al-Nakhalah". ECFR. 16 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Islamic Jihad Names New Chief to Replace Ill Long-time Leader". haaretz. Retrieved 29 September 2018.