Azzam, Abd Ar-Rahman Hassan

Born into a wealthy peasant family. In 1912 he entered the medical school at the hospital of St. Thomas. After a certain time, he went to the Balkans, spending a lot of time in Istanbul, Albania and Anatolia and meeting with various political activists. Upon his return to Egypt, he was forbidden by the British occupation authorities to engage in political activities because of nationalist views. He enters Cairo Al-Aini Medical School in Cairo.

Azzam took an active part in the resistance movement of the Italian occupation of Libya (1915-23). On June 1, 1919, following negotiations with the occupation authorities, the Basic Law of Tripolitania was developed, which endowed local residents with Italian citizenship and political rights. However, Italy refused to accept it, in January 1924, together with King Idris I emigrated to Egypt.

In 1924 he was elected to the local parliament. In 1931, he represented Egypt at the General Islamic Conference in Jerusalem, which was ignored by the country's official authorities, but Azzam and several other deputies took part in it as representatives of the opposition. Following its results, the politician was elected to the Executive Committee of Congress. In 1932, he quit the Wafd party and became an ally of King Farouk I.

In 1936 he was appointed ambassador to Iraq and Iran, and in 1937 - to Saudi Arabia.

In 1945-1952 - First Secretary General of the League of Arab States. In this post, he condemned the anti-Jewish riots in Egypt on November 2-3, 1945. At the same time, he resolutely rejected the Jewish claim to Palestine (1946). In 1948, he promoted the unification of Arab forces to counter Israeli policies regarding the Arab part of Palestine. Azzam is credited with a quote about the need for the complete destruction of Israel, which is recognized by some historians, others claim that it has been changed, although the concepts of "destruction" and "dangerous massacre" are present in both cases.

According to historians of Israeli historians Gershuni and James Yankovsky, Azzam denied the origin of the Egyptians as descendants of the pharaohs , believing that modern Egypt was formed primarily under the influence of the Arab religion, customs, language and culture.

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