Said Seyam ( ar, سعيد صيام; 22 July 1959 – 15 January 2009), first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined

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-Qas ...

and became one of its top commanders. During the 2008–2009 Gaza War, Seyam was killed in an Israeli airstrike in

Jabalia Jabalia also Jabalya ( ar, جباليا) is a Palestinian city located north of Gaza City. It is under the jurisdiction of the North Gaza Governorate, in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a pop ...

. Seyam was the most senior Hamas member killed in the war, and the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel since the death of

Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi Abdel Aziz Ali Abdul Majid al-Rantisi ( ar, عبد العزيز علي عبد المجيد الحفيظ الرنتيسي; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004), nicknamed the "Lion of Palestine" was the co-founder of Palestinian Sunni-Islamic org ...

in April 2004.

Early life and education

Said Seyam was born on 22 July 1959 in the

Al-Shati Al-Shati ( ar, مخيّم الشاطئ), also known as Beach camp, is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the northern Gaza Strip along the Mediterranean Sea coastline in the Gaza Governorate, and more specifically Gaza City. The camp's total ...

refugee camp near

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

. His parents fled there during 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 ...

from their village home of al-Jura, near

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border wit ...

. Following his secondary education in Gaza City, he gained a diploma in sciences and maths, followed by a bachelor's degree in Islamic education from the

Al-Quds Open University Al-Quds Open University ( ar, جامعة القدس المفتوحة) is an independent, distance education public university in Palestine. It was created by a decree issued by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1991. QOU is the f ...

Hamas membership

It is unknown when Seyam joined Hamas, but he was one of the early members. Seyam held a job as a teacher at various

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

-run schools until 2003. He was arrested four times during the

First Intifada The First Intifada, or First Palestinian Intifada (also known simply as the intifada or intifadah),The word ''wikt:intifada, intifada'' () is an Arabic word meaning "wikt:uprising, uprising". Its strict Arabic transliteration is '. was a sus ...

from 1987 to 1991. Israeli jets kill Hamas leader

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 Jazee ...

. 15 January 2009. In 1992, he was expelled from the

Palestinian territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

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 ...

southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distri ...

and upon his return in 1995, Seyam was arrested by the

Preventive Security Service The Palestinian Preventive Security (PPS) (Arabic: الأمن الوقائي; Al-'amn al-wiqa'i), also known as Preventive Security Force (PSF), Preventive Security Service (PSS) is one of the security apparatus of the State of Palestine. It was ...

(PSS) dominated by

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 s ...

. Seyam was reported by Hamas as one of the pioneer of mortar and

Qassam rocket The Qassam rocket ( ar, صاروخ القسام ''Ṣārūkh al-Qassām''; also ''Kassam'') is a simple, steel artillery rocket developed and deployed by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas. These rockets cannot be fired ...

attacks on Jewish settlements in 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.. ...

, which caused them to be virtually besieged from 2001 to their evacuation by Israel in September 2005. According to his fighters, Seyam was injured three times during that period, although the causes of these injuries were not disclosed. Seyam was the second of Hamas' top five officials to be killed during Israel's offensive. He had evaded at least one attempt by the IDF to kill him in late 2004. Seyam became one of the members of the Hamas "collective leadership" in Gaza after the 2004 killings of founders

Ahmed Yassin Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin ( ar, الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين; 1 January 1937 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, a militant Islamist and Palestinian nationalist organiza ...

and Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi. Seyam was close to Yassin and Hamas secretary-general

Khaled Mashal Khaled Mashal ( ar, خالد مشعل, Khālid Mashʿal, Levantine Arabic: , born 28 May 1956) is a former leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas. After the founding of Hamas in 1987, Mashal became the leader of the Kuwaiti branch of t ...

, that latter whom he accompanied on a diplomatic visit to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia. After the parliamentary elections in 2006, Seyam was appointed Interior Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, forming the Palestinian government of March 2006. It also put him in charge of 13,000 police and security forces. He represented the Gaza electoral district of the

Palestinian Legislative Council The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, ...

as a Hamas member after being elected with the most votes for any single candidate. In June 2007, he created the Executive Force, a paramilitary organization to rival Mohammed Dahlan's PSS. It played a key role in the takeover of Gaza and was praised by many Gazans for bringing order to Gaza, but accused of torture by others.

Personal life

He had six children: two boys and four girls.

Death

Said Seyam was killed on 15 January 2009 in an Israeli air raid on his brother's rented home in

. Also killed in the strike were his son, brother and two other Hamas officials: the interior ministry's security director Saleh Abu Sharkh and the local leader of the Hamas militia, Mahmoud Abu Watfah. Hamas spokesman

Sami Abu Zuhri Sami Abu Zuhri () is a senior spokesman for the Palestinian organization Hamas. 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 ...

stated "Some of our leaders will fall, some of our people will fall, but the flag of resistance won't fall" in response to Seyam's death. Hamas members stated on Al-Aqsa TV that Seyam's "blood will be the fuel for the coming victory gainst Israel.Third-ranking Hamas leader in Gaza killed
''

CNN News 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 ...

''. 2009.

References

External links

AFP Article

Said Siam
Obituary from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''
"Hamas leader denies disputes with Abbas on new cabinet formation"
Xinhua, 12 March 2006.
Analysis: Security kingpin held Gaza in iron grip
Analysis of factional struggles between

and

in the wake of Hamas' takeover of Gaza in 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Seyam, Said 1959 births 2009 deaths Hamas members Members of the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council Government ministers of the Gaza Strip Palestinian politicians Assassinated Palestinian politicians Assassinated Hamas members Deaths by Israeli airstrikes