Khalil El-Wazir (Abu Jihad)

(1935 - 1988)

Born on October 10, 1935; expelled in 1948 from Ramleh and fled to Gaza; became fedai in 1954; studied in Cairo in the 1950s; co-founder (with Arafat) of the first Fatah-cell in 1957; Fatah founding member in 1958/59; PLO/Fatah military chief since the 1960s; issued in Lebanon the clandestine Fatah magazine Filastinuna (January 1959); head of the first office opened by Fatah in Algeria, January 1963; played an instrumental role in the PLO's relations with a number of Arab states including Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia; godfather of and contact person for the resistance in the disputed territories); appointed official deputy of Arafat on Fatah's 1980 congress; Arafat's second and his closest ally; assassinated in his house in Tunis by Israelis on April 16, 1988.

Sources: PASSIA