Comrade Makhoul, who passed away Friday, December 26, at the age of 73, was a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of Israel and the director of the Emil Touma Center for Palestinian and Israeli Studies, former MK and a former General Secretary of the CPI.
We part today from a true communist fighter, who devoted his life to the struggle of his people and for humanity, and who continued to work ceaselessly for the cause until his untimely death. He was present for many years in different struggles, as a Marxist intellectual and political thinker.
Issam Makhoul was born on July 18th, 1952, in the village of Buqei’a in the north of the country. He married the engineer Su’ad Nassr Makhoul, with whom he raised two children – Hanna and Jana. Makhoul studied at the University of Haifa during the 1970s, where he joined progressive student organizations – first as part of the “Yesh” movement, and later as part of the Hadash student wing and the Jewish-Arab Campus students’ movement. He was elected head of the Arab student committee of the university, and in 1977 as head of the all-national Arab Student Union in the Israeli universities.
In 1977 he joined the Communist Party, and in the mid-1980s was elected secretary of the Haifa branch, and subsequently as head of the party’s Haifa region. In 1993 Makhoul was elected member of the politburo of the party.
In 1999, the Hadash council chose him as a candidate for the parliamentary elections, and he served as a member of Knesset between 1999 and 2006. In late 2002 he was elected secretary general of the Communist Party of Israel – a role that he fulfilled until 2007. In 2010 he was appointed chairman of the Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian and Israeli Studies. In February 2023, comrade Issam Makhoul was elected chairman of Hadash.
Throughout his life, comrade Abu Hanna took on many roles and responsibilities on behalf of the communist party and Hadash. The cadres of the communist party and Hadash mourn the passing of our dear comrade Issam Mahoul, who took part in all our struggles and activities for five decades. He was distinguished by his unshakeable progressive and internationalist stance, and by his clear political compass – the compass of Palestinian liberation, and construction of society on the foundations of justice and humanity. For these, his blessed remembrance shall remain with us for all time.
