Ismail Haniyye

Ismail Haniyeh
Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2017
Deputy	Saleh al-Arouri
Preceded by	Khaled Meshal
Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority Disputed
In office 29 March 2006* – 2 June 2014
President	Mahmoud Abbas Aziz Duwaik
Preceded by	Ahmed Qurei
Succeeded by	Rami Hamdallah
Personal details
Born	(1962-01-29) 29 January 1962 (age 56) Al-Shati refugee camp, Gaza Strip
Political party	Hamas
Alma mater	Islamic University of Gaza
Haniyeh was dismissed on 14 June 2007 by Abbas, who appointed Fayyad instead. This was deemed illegal by the Legislative Council, which continued to recognise Haniyeh. The Palestinian Authority govern the West Bank while Hamas govern the Gaza Strip. A unity government was formed in 2014.

Ismail Abdel Salam Ahmed Haniyeh (Arabic: إسماعيل عبد السلام أحمد هنية‎, Ismaʻīl Haniyya; sometimes transliterated as Haniya, Haniyah or Hanieh;  Arabic pronunciation ; born 29 January 1962) is a senior political leader of Hamas and formerly one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority. Haniyeh became prime minister after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah–Hamas conflict, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continued to exercise prime ministerial authority in the Gaza Strip. In September 2016 reports indicate that Haniyeh will replace Khaled Meshaal as head leader of Hamas. He was elected as Hamas political chief on 6 May 2017.

Haniyeh was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. His parents became refugees, after they fled their homes near what is now Ashkelon, Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He attended United Nations-run schools and in 1987, graduated from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in Arabic literature. While at university he had become involved with Hamas. From 1985 to 1986 he was head of the students' council representing the Muslim Brotherhood. He also played as a midfielder in the Islamic Association football team. He graduated at about the same time as the First Intifada against the Israeli occupation started in the Gaza Strip.

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