Osama Hamdan
Born in 1965 to a refugee family that had fled in 1948 from East Albatani, Al-Majdal (Ashqelon) and settled in Al-Burj RC, Gaza Strip; completed his high school in Kuwait in 1982; enrolled at Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan, graduating with a BA in Chemistry in 1986;
Was an activist within the Islamic student movement at the university from 1982-86; went back to Kuwait after graduating and worked in the industrial sector until the Iraqi invasion to Kuwait in 1990;
Worked at Hamas office in Tehran as assistant to Hamas representative Imad Alami from 1992-93; became Hamas’ official representative in Tehran in 1994, serving in that post until 1998, when he was appointed as Hamas representative to Lebanon, a post he still holds;
Participated in the Cairo dialogue between Palestinian factions in 2004 and served as Hamas’ spokesperson at the talks; participated in most of the recent dialogue meetings between Hamas and European officials; is a member of the Arab National Congress and of the Arab Islamic Conference. of the Board of Trustees of the Jerusalem Institute in Lebanon; member of the Hamas politburo. |
