Shafiq al-Hout
| Shafiq al-Hout | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
13 January 1932 Jaffa, Mandatory Palestine |
| Died | 2 August 2009 (aged 77) Beirut, Lebanon |
| Nationality | Palestinian |
| Occupation | Chief Editor of al-Hawadeth (1958-64) Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Front (1961-68) Member of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee (1966-68; 1991-93) PLO Representative to UNGA (1974-91) |
| Religion | Islam |
Shafiq al-Hout also spelled Shafik al-Hut (Arabic: شفيق الحوت; 13 January 1932 – 2 August 2009) was a Palestinian politician and writer. Born in Jaffa, he and his family fled to Beirut at the onset of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. There, al-Hout became a journalist at al-Hawadth newspaper. Using it as a platform, he founded the Palestine Liberation Front in 1961 and later became a founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964. He remained a senior member of the organization, representing it in Lebanon and the United Nations General Assembly. Initially a close aid to Yasser Arafat, al-Hout resigned from his position on the PLO Executive Committee, in protest of Arafat's signing of the Oslo Accords.
Al-Hout was born in Jaffa in 1932 to the mayor of Jaffa at the time, known as the "Beiruti Mayor." He belonged to the al-Hout family which had its roots in Lebanon; Shafiq's grandfather, Salim Youssef al-Hout, was originally from Beirut and immigrated to Jaffa in the late 19th century, settling in the Manshiyyah quarter. While Shafiq's five siblings were born at his grandfather's house, he was born in his parents' home. According to Shafiq, at their grandfather's home, he and his siblings "played [in] for hours on end... Not very far from my house was a sandy playground where we played football with our neighbors."
Al-Hout received his schooling up to high school at the al-Ameriyyah Public School in the same class of Ibrahim Abu-Lughod and Farouk Qaddoumi. He joined the boy scouts, and as a result, was able to form a clear picture about the institution. His first trip was to the Dead Sea. During his childhood, one of his hobbies was visiting movie theaters, which were located in different parts of Jaffa, and swimming in the beaches on the city's coastline.
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