The "Rewards for Justice" program of the U.S. Department of State announced today, Tuesday, a reward of up to $10 million for information about Saleh Al-Arouri, one of the founders of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. The Justice Department's website stated that "in October 2017, Al-Arouri was elected as the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas."
**Who is Al-Arouri?**
Saleh Muhammad Suleiman Al-Arouri (Abu Mohammed) is a prominent political and military leader, regarded as the mastermind behind arming the Qassam Brigades. He is the deputy head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and contributed to establishing Hamas's military wing in the West Bank (Qassam Brigades). He was arrested and spent approximately 15 years in Israeli prisons before being expelled from Palestine. He was also a member of the negotiating team for concluding the "Shalit Deal."
He is married with two daughters and currently resides in Lebanon.
**Early Life and Education**
Born in the village of Aroura in the Ramallah district in 1966, he received his primary, intermediate, and secondary education in Palestine. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in Islamic Law from Al-Khalil University. He joined Islamic activism at an early age in school and mosque activities and led the Islamic student work (the Islamic Bloc) at the university from 1985 until his arrest in 1992.
**Founding of the Qassam Brigades**
Israel considers him one of the most significant founders of the Martyr Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank and accused him of being behind the abduction of three settlers in Hebron, which led to his house being demolished. He began establishing and forming a military apparatus for the movement in the West Bank in 1991-1992, contributing to the actual launch of the Qassam Brigades in the West Bank in 1992.
He was detained for more than 18 years in Israeli prisons, and when released in 2010, he was exiled to Syria for three years before moving to Turkey as the Syrian crisis escalated. He is believed to have played a pivotal role in completing the Shalit Deal.
**In the Israeli Prisons**
He was administratively detained in 1990-1991-1992 and until 2007 (15 years) on charges of forming the initial cells of the Qassam Brigades in the West Bank. He was re-arrested three months after his release and held for another three years until 2010 when the Israeli Supreme Court decided to release and expel him outside Palestine.
**Exile**
He was deported to Syria, where he lived for three years. With the onset of the Syrian crisis, he moved to Turkey in February 2012 and settled there. Years later, he left Turkey and moved between several countries, including Qatar and Malaysia, eventually settling in the southern suburbs of Lebanon.
**In Political Leadership**
He was elected as a member of Hamas's political bureau in 2010 and served until October 2017. On October 9, 2017, Hamas announced Al-Arouri's election as deputy to the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, during a recent meeting of the movement's Shura Council. He was also a member of the negotiating team for concluding the "Shalit Deal."
**Demolition of His House**
On June 20, 2014, his house in the Aroura area, northwest of Ramallah, was demolished. Israeli forces delivered a demolition order to the Al-Arouri family in the middle of that night.
