Abdel Razak al-Yehiyeh

Abdel-Razak al-Yehiyeh or Abdul-Razzaq Al-Yahya (March 15, 1929 – March 9, 2020)<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> born in Tantura, near Haifa, then in the British Mandate of Palestine,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> also known as Abu Anas, was a Palestinian politician who served as Interior Minister of the Palestinian National Authority.

Al-Yehiyeh trained as a military strategist and served as chief operations officer and then deputy chief-of-staff of the PLA brigade in Syria before 1967.<ref name=":1" /> In August 1968, he led an attempt to make PLA Syria brigades more independent of Syrian control, and was made PLA chief-of-staff by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee. But with Syria opposed, he resigned to become military advisor to the PLO Executive Committee from 1969<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and chief-of-staff of the Palestinian Armed Struggle Command (PASC) in February 1969.Template:Citation needed

He was reappointed to the PLA as commander-in-chief by the PLO Executive Committee in June 1969.<ref name=":1" /> Then when Yasser Arafat took on that role in September 1970, al-Yehiyeh became chief-of-staff of all Palestinian forces.<ref name=":1" />

Due to Syrian pressure, he was replaced in 1971, becoming director of the PLO's political department from 1971 to 1976,<ref name=":1" /> He was a member of the PLO Executive Committee from 1984 to 1991.<ref name=":0" /> Al-Yehiyeh headed security committees in talks with Israel from 1993 to 1995,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> including final status talks, and also headed negotiations on Hebron security arrangements and safe passage.<ref name=":1" />

He was appointed as Interior Minister of the Palestinian Authority in June 2002, charged with overhauling Palestinian security forces.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> He was a member of the three-man delegation to Washington in August 2000.Template:Citation needed He was involved in security talks with Israel, and headed a centralized security apparatus for the Palestinian Authority.

Al-Yehiyeh left the PA cabinet in late 2002, feeling that Arafat had prevented him from making any significant reforms. He published his book Between militarism and politics in 2006,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and he was working on publishing a new book about peace negotiations between the Palestinian National Authority PNA and Israel.Template:Citation needed

He was appointed Interior Minister on June 15, 2007.Template:Citation needed

Private life

From his first marriage, he had 4 daughters: Jomana, Lina, Roula and Rejwan. After the death of his first wife, he remarried and had a daughter Rana, and a son, Anas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Sedan, Gil, "Israel doubts Arafat will deliver on reform efforts", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Friday June 7, 2002. Archived from Original March 16, 2006.
• "New Palestinian interior minister a retired military man", CNN. June 10, 2002. (Name misspelt)
• " Palestinian Personalities", The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA). Archived April 13, 2007.
• " Jewish Virtual Library ".
• " Times Magazine ", full text.