Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) was co-founder and second in command of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah). Deputy General Commander of the Palestinian Revolution Force, Abu Jihad fought side by side with late President Yasser Arafat for more than 30 years.
Throughout his profound journey, Abu Jihad was known for his unbreakable commitment to Palestine and the struggle for its cause. Attached to ideals of Palestinian national unity and independence, Abu Jihad sought to manifest the national goals of the Palestinian people.
In his high leadership positions, Abu Jihad was the epitome of self-denial, modesty and exceptional dedication to the struggle. He built wide-ranging, strong relationships with liberation movements throughout the Arab countries and around the world and had strong personal relationships with numerous fighters and rebels. From a young age, he carried out fedayee operations and planned a large number of significant, distinctive military operations against the Israeli occupying forces. Abu Jihad established the Youths Movement in the occupied Palestinian territory and was in charge of supporting and guiding the first popular Intifada (Uprising) since its eruption in November 1987 until the martyrdom in a “grand” assassination by the Israeli Intelligence Agency (Mossad) in Tunisia on the 16th of April 1988.
• Khalil Ibrahim Mahmoud Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) was born in the city of Ramla on the 10th of October 1935.
• In the spring of 1948, when he was 13 years old, Abu Jihad and his family became refugees under the threat of arms. On the day they were forced to flee, which Abu Jihad considered to be the worst in his life, a member of the Zionist Haganah paramilitary organization opened fire on him, but he was not hurt. From Ramla to Latrun, then to Ramallah and Hebron, the family finally settled in Gaza.
• Abu Jihad began his national activity at an early age at the Palestine Secondary School in Gaza, where he was elected leader of the Students’ Movement at the school.
• When he was 16 years old, he was appointed Secretary of the Students’ Office of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza. On his own initiative, he established “cells” comprised of his companions in national activity. He left the Muslim Brotherhood after his demand that they adopt the slogan “Palestine First” in word and deed, including armed struggle, was rejected. By that time, Abu Jihad had already carried out several attacks on Israeli targets in areas around the Gaza Strip.
• In 1954, Abu Jihad, as editor-in-chief of the student journal, Falastinuna, met Yasser Arafat during the latter’s visit to Gaza as a young journalist.
• Also in 1954, the first armed “circle,” which Abu Jihad established and organized, launched military operations against Israeli targets along the Armistice Line. The fedayeen fighters planted landmines and explosive devices on the roads of Israeli army patrols.
• The Egyptian authorities arrested Abu Jihad in 1954, following a military operation he himself had led in the Gaza Strip.
• On the 25th of February 1955, Abu Jihad then planned and participated in the first relatively large-scale military operation, shelling the Zohar water reservoir near the town of Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip.
• Having detected his role in military operations against Israeli patrols and targets, the Egyptian authorities deported Abu Jihad from Gaza to Egypt. He traveled to Alexandria and joined the university, but was forced to drop out to seek work. In 1957, he went to Saudi Arabia and worked as a teacher for less than a year, then traveled to Kuwait where he also worked as a teacher.
• While in Kuwait, Abu Jihad met again with Yasser Arafat and participated in meetings held during1957 and 1958, to establish the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah).
• Yasser Arafat and Abu Jihad founded the monthly journal, Falastinuna: Appeal for Life in November 1959. From its founding through 1964, the journal introduced and publicized the views of the Fatah movement. Through the journal, Fatah managed to recruit many members of Palestinian revolutionary organizations throughout Arab countries.
• On the 19th of July 1962, Abu Jihad married his cousin and companion on his path, Intisar Al-Wazir, in Gaza. They had five sons and daughters.
• In 1963, Abu Jihad traveled with Yasser Arafat to Algeria, where they established the first Fatah Office. Jamal Arafat assumed management of the office. Then, several months later, Abu Jihad took charge of the office.
• As head of the Fatah Office, Abu Jihad consolidated relations with the revolutionary government of Algeria. He obtained the government’s approval to enroll thousands of Palestinian students at Algerian universities as well as to grant hundreds of scholarships. The Algerian government also allowed Palestinian students to receive military training at the Algerian Military Academy, and Abu Jihad concluded the first military transaction for the Palestinian Revolution in Algeria.
• While in Algeria, Abu Jihad initiated contacts with Socialist countries. In 1964, he traveled with Yasser Arafat to China, whose leaders pledged to support the Palestinian Revolution once it was launched. Abu Jihad also traveled to North Vietnam and North Korea.
• Abu Jihad planned a military operation that destroyed the Eilabun Tunnel water pipeline on the night of the 1st of January 1965. The operation marked the launch of the armed struggle inside Palestine.
• In 1965, Abu Jihad left Algeria for Damascus, Syria, where he established the Military Headquarters of the Palestinian Revolution Forces. He was also assigned to manage relationships with the fedayeen cells inside Palestine.
• In February 1966, Abu Jihad, Yasser Arafat, and 10 Fatah members were arrested in Damascus after Yousef ‘Urabi, a Palestinian member of the Baath Party and officer of the Syrian army, and Mohammed Hishmah, a Palestinian member of the (Iraqi) Baath Party, were killed.
• During the 1967 war, Abu Jihad took part in managing military operations against the Israeli army in Upper Galilee in northern Palestine, occupied in 1948.
• With his companions in the Palestinian Revolution Forces Command, Abu Jihad contributed to confronting Israeli army forces in the battle at Al-Karameh in Jordan, on the 21st of March 1968. In addition to being a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Abu Jihad was appointed Deputy Commander General of the Palestinian Revolution Forces. During 1970-71, while in Jordan, Abu Jihad participated in battles defending the Palestinian Revolution.
• In 1971, Abu Jihad moved with his companions to Lebanon, where he engaged in restructuring and training Palestinian fighters and preparing fedayee operations inside the occupied territory.
• After the Israeli Intelligence Agency (Mossad) assassinated Kamal ‘Adwan in Beirut in 1973, Abu Jihad was put in charge of the Western Sector (Occupied Territory) in Fatah, a position in which remained in this position until his martyrdom.
• While in charge of the Western Sector, Abu Jihad planned and supervised a considerable number of fedayee operations, including the Savoy Hotel operation in Tel Aviv; explosive-rigged truck in Jerusalem in 1975; the killing Israeli senior explosives expert, Albert Levy and his assistant in Nablus in 1976; the Beach operation led by Dalal al Mughrabi in 1978; shelling the Eilat Port in 1979; and firing Katyusha rockets on Israeli settlements in northern Israel in 1981. Abu Jihad also managed an operation during which eight Israeli soldiers were imprisoned in Lebanon, who were exchanged with approximately 4,500 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in South Lebanon as well as approximately100 prisoners from the occupied Palestinian territory. In addition to the 1988 Dimona Nuclear Plant operation, Abu Jihad supervised the raid on and destruction of the Israeli Military Governor’s Headquarters in Tyre, Lebanon.
• Following his participation in commanding and consolidating the perseverance of the Palestinian Revolution Forces under Israeli siege from June through August 1982, Abu Jihad left Beirut by sea. He later traveled to and resided in Syria and made frequent visits to Lebanon, where Palestinian Revolution Forces units were positioned.
• During 1982 and 1983, Abu Jihad led the war of attrition against Israel in South Lebanon.
• In the summer of 1983, the Syrian authorities took the decision to prevent Abu Jihad from “accessing the Syrian territory or the territory under Syrian Administration.” With support from the Syrian government, the dissidents attempted to seize control from Fatah during that period. Abu Jihad went secretly to Lebanon, where he led the Revolution Forces to confront the dissidents and Syrian forces.
• Before Yasser Arafat joined him, arriving secretly from Cyprus by sea, Abu Jihad had commanded the battles to confront the dissidents and Syrian forces in Tripoli in northern Lebanon. Both Abu Jihad and Arafat were besieged in Tripoli until the 19th of December 1983, when they left Tripoli with the Palestinian Revolution Forces.
• In early 1984, Abu Jihad presided over the Palestinian side in the Jordanian-Palestinian Joint Committee to Support Palestinians in the Occupied Territory. Then, during the summer of 1986, the Jordanian authorities closed 25 offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Jordan and demanded that Abu Jihad leave the Jordanian territory within 24 hours. Abu Jihad traveled to Baghdad.
• From his new headquarters, Abu Jihad maintained his position as Deputy Commander General of the Palestinian Revolution Forces and officer in charge of the armed struggle in the occupied Palestinian territory. Abu Jihad also chaired the Fatah delegation in the National Dialogue sessions that took place in several capitals. He managed to conclude an agreement that allowed the 18th Term of the Palestinian National Council (National Unity Term) to be held in Algeria in 1987.
• With the outbreak of the popular Intifada in the occupied Palestinian territory in the autumn of 1987, Abu Jihad was responsible for liaising with and supporting the activities of the Intifada in consultation with the “secret” Unified National Command of the Intifada in the occupied Palestinian territory.
• Abu Jihad frequently visited Tunisia, where the PLO headquarters and his family were positioned. Although he would stay for just a few days, he spent 15 days on his last visit to Tunisia in the spring of 1988. An Israeli commando force assassinated Abu Jihad while he was working at his home on the night of the 16th of April 1988, firing 70 bullets into his body. Two helicopters and four rubber boats dispatched approximately 20 members of the Israeli Assassination Unit who took part in the operation.
• Abu Jihad’s body was transported to Damascus. More than half a million Palestinian refugees as well as Syrian and other Arab citizens marched in Abu Jihad’s funeral procession in Al-Yarmuk refugee camp.
