Sami Abu Zuhri () is a senior spokesman for the

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

organization

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 ...

. Zuhri gained notoriety on May 19, 2006, before which time he was a relatively unknown member of Hamas, when Palestinian security and customs officials discovered he had 640,000

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s on his person; another report claimed he held a larger sum of 900,000 euros, and confiscated it, after Zuhri dropped a concealed money belt at a routine border crossing from

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 ...

to the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. The news brought competing Hamas and

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

paramilitary forces to the crossing checkpoint, which Zuhri refused to leave without the banknotes, which had been confiscated as contraband. Abu Zuhri told a reporter from the Arab broadcaster

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

that the money had been donated privately by individuals he met during a tour of Arab nations. The European monitors, who took up the station when

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 ...

pulled out of Gaza, are charged with checking for contraband, which sometimes includes weapons and food. Julio De La Guardia, a spokesman for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

contingent that monitors the passage, said travelers crossing through

Rafah Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former Palestinian ...

must declare all sums over $2,000. Abu Zuhri stated his objection to the inclusion of what he referred to as the "so-called Holocaust" in the proposed

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 ...

lesson plan for students in Gaza. He continued "we think it's more important to teach Palestinians the crimes of the

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

." When the suspected perpetrators of the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers, Marwan Qawasmahi and Amer Abu Aisha, were killed by Israel after resisting arrest, he said "Hamas praises the role the martyrs played in chasing down Israeli settlers and we stress that their assassination will not weaken the resistance". In December 2014, Sami Abu Zuhri reportedly harassed a Gaza-based foreign female reporter and was being investigated by the Islamist group ruling the Gaza Strip.

References

External links

Washington Post
14 September 2008 ''Abbas aims to stay in office to 2010 despite Hamas'' Reuters article

''Israeli minister vows Palestinian "holocaust"'' By

Tim Butcher Tim Butcher (born 15 November 1967) is an English author, broadcaster and journalist. He is the author of '' Blood River'' (2007), ''Chasing the Devil'' (2010) and ''The Trigger'' (2014), travel books blending contemporary adventure with history ...

Reuters
15 May 2008 ''Bush hails Israel's "chosen people" as Arabs lament''

28 June 2004
Zuhri Interview with Sami Abu Zuhri
30 September 2005

''Hamas official caught at border with more than $1 million'' 19 May 2006
ABC News
"Hamas Official Caught Smuggling $817,000"
IMEMC
''Abu Zuhri calls on Abbas to declare the failure of peace talks'' 26 April 2008

20 April 2008 ''Report: Hamas rejects Egyptian plan for truce with Israel''
Jpost
'Hizbullah's terror chief killed in Damascus bombing'' By Yaakov Katz

5 August 2008 ''Gazans' Access To Care Faulted Israeli Interrogation Criticized in Report'' By Linda Gradstein {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuhri, Sami Abu Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Islamic University of Gaza alumni Hamas members Palestinian Holocaust deniers