Ḥammāmī, Saʿīd

▪ Palestinian nationalist

also spelled  Said Hammami 

born 1941, Jaffa, Palestine [now Tel Aviv–Yafo, Israel]

died January 4, 1978, London, England

      Palestinian nationalist who was the London representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He was known for his moderate stance and willingness to negotiate with Israel.

      Ḥammāmī was born in Jaffa, but his family fled when fighting erupted following Israel's declaration of independence in 1948. They eventually settled as refugees in Amman, Jordan. He attended the University of Damascus and after graduating with a degree in English literature worked as a teacher and journalist. In 1967 Ḥammāmī joined Yāsir ʿArafāt (Arafāt, Yāsirʿ)'s Fatah organization, and in 1969 he was elected to the Palestine National Council, the PLO's legislature. In 1970 fighting broke out in Jordan after King Ḥussein, fearing a loss of power to the PLO, authorized his army to expel the organization (a confrontation known as “Black September”). The PLO was defeated, and Ḥammāmī moved to Beirut, Lebanon, where he remained involved in Palestinian politics, envisaging compromise with Israel. Though a fervent nationalist, Ḥammāmī was regarded as a “moderate” because of his willingness to consider the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank (the region due west of the Jordan River), while deferring the question of a single state for all Palestinians to the future. In 1972 he was appointed to the PLO post in London, where he publicly espoused antiterrorist policies. There was growing opposition to his moderate stance, however, and in 1978 Ḥammāmī was assassinated in his London office, allegedly by a group headed by Palestinian extremist Abū Niḍāl.

* * *