Abdel-Razak al-Yehiyeh or Abdul-Razzaq Al-Yahya (March 15, 1929 – March 9, 2020) born in

Tantura Tantura ( ar, الطنطورة, ''al-Tantura'', lit. ''The Peak''; Hebrew and Phoenician: דור, ''Dor'') was a Palestinian Arab fishing village located northwest of Zikhron Ya'akov on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Near the village, lies ...

, near

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, then in the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

, also known as Abu Anas, was a Palestinian politician who served as Interior Minister of the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

. Al-Yehiyeh trained as a military strategist and served as chief operations officer and then deputy chief-of-staff of the

PLA PLA may refer to: Organizations Politics and military * People's Liberation Army, the armed forces of China and of the ruling Chinese Communist Party * People's Liberation Army (disambiguation) ** Irish National Liberation Army, formerly called ...

brigade in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

before 1967. 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 The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...

(PLO) Executive Committee. But with Syria opposed, he resigned to become military advisor to the PLO Executive Committee from 1969 and chief-of-staff of the

Palestinian Armed Struggle Command Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

(PASC) in February 1969. He was reappointed to the PLA as commander-in-chief by the PLO Executive Committee in June 1969. Then when

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

took on that role in September 1970, al-Yehiyeh became chief-of-staff of all Palestinian forces. Due to Syrian pressure, he was replaced in 1971, becoming director of the PLO's political department from 1971 to 1976, He was a member of the PLO Executive Committee from 1984 to 1991. Al-Yehiyeh headed security committees in talks with

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

from 1993, including final status talks, and also headed negotiations on

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

security arrangements and safe passage. He was appointed as Interior Minister of the Palestinian Authority in June 2002, charged with overhauling Palestinian security forces. He was a member of the three-man delegation to Washington in August 2000. 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, and he was working on publishing a new book about peace negotiations between the Palestinian National Authority PNA and Israel. He was appointed Interior Minister on June 15, 2007.

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.

External links and references

* Sedan, Gil, "
Israel doubts Arafat will deliver on reform efforts
'". Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Friday June 7, 2002. * "
New Palestinian interior minister a retired military man
'",

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

. June 10, 2002. (Name misspelt) * "'
Palestinian Personalities
'". * "'

''". * "'

"''. 1929 births 2020 deaths People from Haifa District Interior ministers of the Palestinian National Authority Fatah military commanders {{Palestine-politician-stub