HASAN, KHALID AL- (Abu Said; 1928–1994)

Palestinian political figure and brother of Hani al-Hasan, born in Haifa, Palestine. Khalid al-Hasan became a refugee in Lebanon in 1948, during the first Arab-Israeli conflict. Between 1949 and 1951, as a student at the American University of Beirut, he took part in the activities of the Islamic Liberation Party before going to Kuwait, where in 1959, with Yasir Arafat, he participated in the creation of Fatah, taking responsibility for information and propaganda and becoming the movement's main ideologue. His activities in Arab countries, in particular Saudi Arabia, allowed Fatah, and afterwards the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), to obtain significant financial support. Between 1960 and 1967 he was a member of the City Council of Kuwait City and from 1968 to 1974 he was head of the PLO's political department. Opposed to terrorist tactics, he found himself often at odds with Arafat, who recommended armed action; he also reproached Arafat for his alliance with the Palestinian left.

As president of the foreign relations commission of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), in November 1988 he met with three Jewish American leaders to whom he explained the tenor of the PNC resolution on the creation of the Palestinian state and recognition of the Jewish state. In 1991, during the Gulf War, he distanced himself from Arafat's pro-Iraqi position. In September 1993, favoring the creation of a Jordanian-Palestinian federation, he criticized the tenor of the Israeli-Palestinian accords signed in Washington, particularly on the fate of Palestinian refugees. He withdrew from political activity because of illness and died in Rabat.

SEE ALSO Arafat, Yasir;Fatah, al-;Hasan, Hani al-;Islamic Liberation Party;Palestine Liberation Organization.