Early Years and Education
Haddad was born to Palestinian Christian (Orthodox Christian) parents in Safed, in what is today northern Israel, in 1927. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War his family's home was destroyed and his family fled to Lebanon. He studied medicine at the American University of Beirut, where he met fellow Palestinian refugee, George Habash. Together they helped found the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), a pan-Arabist and Arab socialist grouping aiming to create the State of Palestine and unite the Arab countries.
After graduating, he relocated with Habash (a paediatrician) to Amman, Jordan, where they established a clinic. He worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in 1956, but due to his Palestinian nationalist activism he was arrested by the Jordanian authorities in 1957. In 1961, he managed to escape to Syria. Haddad argued for armed struggle against Israel from 1963 onwards, and succeeded in militarizing the ANM.
Read more about this topic: Wadie Haddad
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