Even the most optimistic advocates of a change in the Gaza Strip's governance system did not expect the list of candidates for the transitional administration committee in the Strip to include figures long described as some of the fiercest opponents of the radical Palestinian movement “Hamas”, writes the “Ash Sharq al-Awsat” newspaper, quoted by BTA.
Many Palestinians, regardless of their political orientation, were surprised by the appearance of Sami Nasman, one of the most prominent officials in the Palestinian General Intelligence Service since its inception, as the man chosen to be in charge of security in the enclave.
Nasman Has a Long History of Being Described as hostile relations with “Hamas”, and the group seems to have had no opportunity to disagree with the nominations for the committee, notes the Saudi publication, which presents a brief history of the relationship between Nasman and “Hamas”.
Sami Nasman was born in 1967 in the “Beach“ refugee camp west of Gaza and spent most of his life in the “Sheikh Radwan“ neighborhood in the north of the city.
During his secondary and university education, he joined the “Fatah” youth movement and was an active participant in the first Palestinian intifada in 1987. He also participated in armed actions, which made him a target for Israeli forces. This forced him, along with several other members of “Fatah”, to flee Gaza in 1988.
At that time, there was the first brief episode of confrontation with “Hamas” activists during the formation of the organization, which ended when Nasman left the Gaza Strip.
While in exile, he moved between Cairo, Tunis and other capitals, during which time he met with the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, according to sources close to Nasman.
In 1994, when the Palestinian Authority began deploying troops in Gaza and parts of the West Bank in accordance with the 1993 Oslo Accords, Nasman returned to the enclave and later settled again in “Sheikh Radwan”. He became a senior officer in the Palestinian General Intelligence Service and was considered the right-hand man of Amin al-Hindi, the agency's first chief.
In connection with Palestinian security operations targeting members of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PJI), Nasman was accused of leading arrest campaigns against them between 1996 and 2000.
In February 1996, the PJI accused him of being responsible for the assassination of two of the senior operatives who carried out the Beit Lid attack in Israel, which killed more than twenty Israelis.
The animosity between Nasman and Hamas deepened with the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in late 2000 and the escape of members of “Hamas” and the PLO from Palestinian Authority prisons. Tensions escalated further after “Hamas” won the elections in the Strip in 2006 and attempts to assassinate senior intelligence officials followed.
The confrontation between Nasman and his security apparatus and “Hamas” reached its peak after the group seized control of Gaza in 2006 and forced him, along with dozens of other officers, to flee in fear for his life amid accusations that he had led the arrest and persecution of Hamas members.
Nasman left Gaza through Israeli land checkpoints and went to Ramallah, where he later took over the Gaza file at the intelligence service and then became an advisor to the director of the agency for the southern areas.
In 2015, Hamas accused Nasman of running networks in Gaza from Ramallah to incite unrest and attempt to eliminate leaders and officials of the movement. In August of that year, Hamas gave him ten days to surrender. In March 2016, he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison after publishing confessions by Palestinian security officials that Nasman had recruited them to carry out the alleged plots - allegations that sources close to Nasman deny.