GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a phone interview with Al-Monitor, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau Mousa Abu Marzouk revealed that some countries — without specifying which ones — had contacted the movement to discuss the issue of Israelis being detained in Hamas jails. According to Abu Marzouk, the movement stressed that Israel should respect the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal first by releasing about 50 Palestinians it rearrested after freeing them as per the deal, before Hamas could talk to mediators about releasing new Israeli detainees.
Speaking about the Hamas delegation’s latest visit to Cairo Jan. 23, Abu Marzouk said the topics discussed were mostly related to the Palestinian internal reconciliation, the political situation in the region, the international situation, US policy toward the Palestinian cause and the Rafah crossing. The delegation also talked about Egypt providing the Gaza Strip with its various needs, including electricity. He said that Hamas is currently on good terms with Egypt.
Abu Marzouk was born on Feb. 9, 1951, in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, and he currently resides in Qatar. He is married and has six sons. He received a doctorate in industrial engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 1992 and during his stay in the United States, he contributed in founding several institutions and committees to help the Muslim diaspora in the United States and promote the Palestinian cause, such as the Islamic Center of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Abu Marzouk was one of the founders of the Hamas movement in 1987 and served as the first head of its political bureau in Jordan in 1992 after returning from the United States. He was expelled by the Jordanian authorities in 1995 after Hamas’ office in Amman was shut down. He returned to the United States where he was arrested by US authorities in July 1995 and detained for 22 months with no formal charges placed against him. In 1997, he was released and deported by US authorities to Jordan, after which the latter expelled him again in 1999. He then settled in Syria for a while before moving to Qatar.
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