HINDI, AMIN AL- (Abu Zuhayr; 1939–)

Palestinian activist, born in Gaza, Palestine. Between 1968 and 1972 Amin al-Hindi was secretary of the Palestinian Student Union in Berlin, where he was a student. After joining Fatah, he was assigned to the security services, headed by Salah Khalaf. At the end of 1972 he joined the radical Iqab group, backed by Libya and considered a branch of the Black September Organization. In September 1973, while participating in preparations for an attack on an Israeli El Al plane, he was arrested in Ostia, Italy, with four other Palestinians, among whom was Atef Bseisso. The five were freed a few weeks later by the Italian authorities. On 5 November 1975 he was sent by Yasir Arafat to King Hassan II of Morocco with a message of support on the question of the Moroccan Sahara. Two years later al-Hindi became the leader of the organization section of Fatah, maintaining contacts with Cuban, East German, Yugoslavian, and other information services. In 1981 he was elected to the Fatah revolutionary council and became one of Khalaf's principal assistants. In 1982 he followed Arafat into exile in Tunis, where he kept his post in al-Fatah's unified security leadership. In February 1991, after the assassinations of Khalaf and of Hayel Abdul Hamid, he became interim head of security services under Arafat's direct control and was often in touch with significant Arab and European security figures. On 17 September 1993, during the application of the Israeli-Palestinian accords on partial autonomy of the Palestinian territories, Arafat named him head of the Palestinian foreign intelligence service. In 2004 he headed the General Intelligence Service in the Gaza Strip and held the rank of major general. He has been proposed as Palestinian Authority interior minister if and when Israel withdraws from Gaza.

SEE ALSO Arafat, Yasir;Black September Organization;Fatah, al-;Gaza Strip;Iqab;Khalaf, Salah;Palestinian Authority.