Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook ( ar, موسى محمد أبو مرزوق; born 9 January 1951) is a Palestinian senior member of

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

Early life and education

Marzook's parents were from Yibna,

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

(now Yavne, Israel). They became refugees after the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

and were forced to move to the Rafah camp in the Gaza Strip. Marzook was born there on 9 January 1951. He completed high school in Gaza, studied engineering in Cairo until 1976, and then looked for work in the Persian Gulf. He continued his studies in the U.S. obtaining a master's degree in construction management from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

and a doctorate in industrial engineering from Louisiana Tech.

Hamas involvement

Marzook has been active in the Islamic political work since 1968, Marzook played a significant role in reorganizing Hamas after the mass arrest of its members in 1989. Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar credits Abu Marzook's fundraising prowess, and his connections to donors in Europe and the US with saving the organization and developing its infrastructure in Gaza, including social service programs. Israel claims that some funds were used for attacks against Israel, a charge that Abu Marzouk denies. Abu Marzook was elected as the first Hamas political bureau chief in 1992, and since 1997 has been deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau. Marzook founded the Islamic Association of Palestine.

Exile

Marzook lived in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

from 1998 to 2001. He then moved to

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

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 ...

in 2001. As of 2012, Marzook lives in

New Cairo New Cairo ( ar, القاهرة الجديدة ' is an Egyptian city covering an area of about on the southeastern edge of Cairo Governorate, 25 kilometres (15 mi) from Maadi. New Cairo is one of the new cities which have been built in ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Arrest

In the mid-1990s Marzook was arrested in JFK airport in the US, although no formal charges placed against him. Two months after his detainment, Israel filed a request for the United States to extradite him. Represented by Stanley L. Cohen, he spent the following 2 years fighting his case in the court system, but the final decision was for his extradition, after which Israel dropped its extradition request. With no formal charges against him the United States released him, but not wanting him to remain, the United States contacted numerous Arab countries to allow Marzook residency. All refused, except

, which reportedly agreed under U.S. pressure. Cohen continues to legally represent Marzook.

Criminal charges in the US

Marzook was listed as a Specially Designated Terrorist by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1995, and is currently on the renamed Treasury department

Specially Designated National The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

list under such alternative spellings of his name as Dr. Musa Abu-Marzuq, Sa'id Abu-Marzuq, Mousa Mohamed Abou Marzook, Musa Abu Marzouk, and Musa Abu Marzuk, and under the alias "Abu-'Umar." In 2002, a federal

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

in Dallas returned an

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

against Marzook for conspiring to violate U.S. laws that prohibit dealings in terrorist funds. The indictment alleged that Marzook had conspired with the Richardson, Texas-based

InfoCom Corporation InfoCom Corporation was an American web hosting service company founded by five brothers in 1992. It was initially based in Dallas, Texas, and before moving to Richardson, Texas. The company was raided on 5 September 2001 and its bank account fro ...

and five of its employees to hide his financial transactions with the computer company. He allegedly invested $250,000 in InfoCom, with Infocom to make payments to Marzook based on the company's net profits or losses. In 2004 Ismail Elbarasse was detained by police in Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge after Baltimore County police officers said they saw a woman (his wife) in the vehicle videotaping the Bridge, including footage of the cables and upper supports of the main span. Elbarasse was an assistant to Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, and was named an unindicted co-conspirator by a

in Chicago after authorities searched the home and vehicle of Elbarasse and found bank records belonging to Marzook, deputy chief of Hamas's political wing. A federal indictment charged Marzook in an alleged conspiracy that authorities said raised millions of dollars for Hamas. In 2004, a U.S. court indicted him in absentia for coordinating and financing Hamas activities.U.S. indictment ''in absentia'' for Hamas activities

Interview with ''The Forward''

In April 2012, Marzook gave what was billed as his "first-ever interview with a Jewish publication", ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...

''. Marzook said that an agreement between Israel and the P.A. would have to be ratified by a referendum of all Palestinians, including those in Gaza. He would regard it as a

hudna A ''hudna'' (from the Arabic meaning "calm" or "quiet") is a truce or armistice. It is sometimes translated as "cease-fire". In his medieval dictionary of classical Arabic, the ''Lisan al-Arab'', Ibn Manzur defined it as: : "''hadana'': he gre ...

, or cease-fire, rather than as a peace treaty. If Hamas gained power, they would feel free to change provisions of the agreement. "We will not recognize Israel as a state", he said. "It will be like the relationship between Lebanon and Israel or Syria and Israel", that is, an armed truce. ''The Forward'' requested the interview, which took place over two days at Marzook's home in New Cairo, Egypt. ''The Forward'' published responses to the interview from eight "prominent observers of the Middle East peace process", Laura Kam of

The Israel Project The Israel Project (TIP) was a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-government organization. According to TIP, it was not affiliated with any government, and according to its website, it had a team with decades of experience in media, government, ...

, Israeli security analyst Yossi Alpher, Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Professor

Daoud Kuttab Daoud Kuttab ( ar, داود كتّاب), (born 1 April 1955) is a Palestinian-American journalist. Journalism In 1980, Kuttab began his career at '' Al-Fajr'', an English-language weekly newspaper. Over the next seven years, he was promoted to ...

, Abraham Foxman of the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

, Arab-American activist

Hussein Ibish Hussein Yusuf Kamal Ibish (Arabic: حسين يوسف كمال أيبش; is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. He is a weekly columnist for Bloomberg and The National (UAE) and is also a regular contributor ...

David Keyes David Keyes () is an Israeli-American public relations representative and human rights activist. Keyes was the executive director of Advancing Human Rights, the co-founder of CyberDissidents.org, and the head of Movements.org, a platform for ...

Advancing Human Rights Advancing Human Rights (AHR) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. AHR's stated objective is to "leverage the tools of democracy to support those fighting for human rights in closed so ...

and political scientist Nathan Brown.

Operation Pillar of Defense

Following the eight-day cross-border battle between Israel and Hamas in November, 2012, Moussa Abu Marzouk said that Hamas would not stop making weapons in Gaza or smuggling them to the territory. According to the Associated Press, Moussa Abu Marzouk is the No 2 leader in Hamas.

Notes and references

Citations

Sources

* * *

External links

"Al-Jazeera interview with Mousa Abu Marzouq during ''Operation Cast Lead''"
* * Abu Marzook, Mous
"Hamas is ready to talk"
''The Guardian''. Retrieved on 16-8-2007. * Abu Marzook, Mous
"Hamas' stand"
''L.A. Times''. Retrieved on 28-8-2008. * Abu Marzook, Mous

''The Washington Post''. Retrieved on 28-08-2008.
Your Questions to Hamas: Live Chat with Mousa Abu Marzook @ ''IslamOnline.net''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marzook, Mousa Mohammed Abu 1951 births Living people People from Rafah Governorate Palestinian Sunni Muslims Hamas members Funding of terrorism Fugitives wanted by the United States People deported from the United States Colorado State University alumni Louisiana Tech University alumni