Obituary - Haider Abdel-Shafi

Victoria Brittain, The Guardian, Wednesday September 26, 2007
Militant and popular leader respected by rival Palestine factions.
Dr Haider Abdel-Shafi, who has died at the age of 88, was a towering figure of the Palestinian national movement for more than half a century - not only one of the fiercest critics of Israel, but also often of the Palestinian leadership. He had a commanding presence, equally at home in an Oxford college as on the crowded streets of Gaza, and his integrity shone out in any company.

Abdel-Shafi became a world figure when he led the Palestinian delegation to the 1991 Madrid peace conference, where his moving and eloquent speech set a tone that no other Palestinian leader has ever risen to. For the next 22 months, he headed the very difficult negotiations with the Israelis in Washington. He left the delegation once over the issue of settlements, and even after he was persuaded to return, urged the Palestinians to withdraw from a process he believed was doomed by bad faith on this issue. Like the writer Edward Said, he forecast the failure of the Oslo peace process long before it became obvious.

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Haydar 'abd al-Shafi: RIP
Laila El-Haddad, Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The sad news from Gaza this morning was the passing of the great Haydar 'abd al-Shafi after a two-year battle with stomach cancer.

If you have a moment, it may be worth glancing at Dr. 'Abd al-Shafi's famous speech from the Madrid talks. It may serve as a reminder of more hopeful times.

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As'ad AbuKhalil - Wednesday, September 26, 2007
You have to read the sinister obituary of Hadyar `Abdul-Shafi in the New York Times. They used his death only to bash the Arab position against the partition of Palestine. It made it sound like `Abdul-Shafi spent all his life resisting the "non-compromising" Arab position. First, nobody knew who he was when he ostensibly opposed the partition plan, and the man--no matter what you say about him--devoted his life to supporting secular (and leftist) resistance to Zionism. After Oslo, `Abdul-Shafi also stood against the agreements, and he was vocal against the corrupt PA of Arafat-Dahlan-Abu Mazen (and the other thuggish leaders of Oslo).

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History proved Arafat critic right
Amira Hass, Ha'aretz, Sunday, 30 September 2007
A year ago, Dr. Haidar Abdel Shafi was diagnosed with a malignant growth in his stomach. Born in 1919, Abdel Shafi had been one of the founders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1964, the head of the Palestinian-Jordanian delegation to the Madrid Conference in 1991 and one of Yasser Arafat's harshest critics. He was advised to seek medical treatment abroad or in Israel - his name gained him an exit visa without delay. Abdel Shafi, the surgeon who had studied medicine in Beirut and worked as a physician in Jaffa until 1948, rejected the suggestions and said he trusted the doctors in Gaza.

A year ago Abdel Shafi was already too weak to engage in political activity. His short-term memory sometimes betrayed him. But he gave the Gaza doctors a vote of confidence and underwent surgery in the city of his birth, unlike other Palestinian VIPs who go abroad when they need medical treatment. It wasn't his intention, but people interpreted his choice as another example of the principled, critical and dissident opinions that characterized his long political career.