By Mohammed Majid
JERUSALEM (AA) – Ziad al-Nakhala has been elected as the chief of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement to replace Ramadhan Shalah, the movement announced Friday.
“The Islamic Jihad movement elected Ziyad al-Nakhala as its secretary-general, ” movement spokesman Dawoud Shihab said at a press conference.
Regarding the group’s Political Bureau, Shihab said that Akram Ajuri, Mohammed Hindi, Yousef al-Hasayneh, Walid Qitati, Mohammed Hamid, Anwar Abu Taha, Abdul Aziz Al-Minawi, Nafez Azzam, and Khalid Al-Batsh had all been granted membership in the bureau.
“There are other [bureau] members in the West Bank, in the territories occupied in 1948, in Jerusalem, and inside Israeli prisons, but they will not be disclosed for security reasons, ” Shihab said.
“Election procedures began more than a year ago, ” he added.
The majority of candidates were from the younger generation, Shihab said, and “there was a prominent role for women”.
In 1995, Shalah — the group’s outgoing chief — headed the movement from Lebanese capital Beirut where he was residing.
In April, group sources revealed that the 60-year-old Shalah was being treated at a Lebanese hospital for a serious illness.
The sources did not provide any further details.
