Aziz Duwaik

Education and family life Prior to becoming involved in political office, Dweik was a professor of urban geography at An-Najah National University in Nablus on the West Bank. He holds a PhD in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1992, a separate military wing was established called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades so that the political wing of Hamas could be distinguished from the military one.

In an April 2006 interview with Ynet, the Israeli media outlet, Duweik responded to a question regarding Israel's announcement of a plan to collapse the new government using economic and other means as follows: "I say that the occupier has, according to treaties, obligations to the occupied. I also say that the money the Israelis say they don't want to transfer [$55 million in tax revenues

2006 arrest Dweik was arrested by Israel on 29 June 2006 as part of Israel's Operation Summer Rains. He was later released and then rearrested 6 August 2006. Dweik says he was severely beaten while in custody, and his lawyers say that he was held in unsanitary conditions. In August 2006, Dweik was charged in Israel for being a member of Hamas and for being in contact with Khaled Mashal, the exiled secretary-general of Hamas. He expressed his view that this was a "political trial" and stated that he did not recognize it. He accused Israel of using "political blackmail", and said that his arrest was in violation of international law.

2009 release Israel released Dweik two months before the end of his three-year sentence. Released from Hadarim prison near Tel Aviv, he was then transferred to an Israeli military checkpoint outside the city of Tulkarm. He stated, "Any person deprived of his freedom feels an enormous hardship." Dweik's release came after a military tribunal near Ramallah which rejected an application by prosecutors to keep him detained, presumably because of his bad health.

2012 arrest and release On 19 January 2012, while traveling to Hebron, Dweik was arrested by the Israeli Army at a checkpoint outside the Palestinian village of Jaba' located between Ramallah and Jerusalem. According to witnesses, he was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to an unknown location. Israel stated his detainment was due to "involvement in terrorist attacks." The BBC's Jerusalem correspondent Wyre Davies said Dweik's arrest will be seen by "many" as "further proof that Israel is pursuing a policy of restricting the movements of senior Palestinian figures." Hamas claimed that Israel made the arrest in order to hinder unity negotiations between their organization and rival Fatah. Duweik was placed under six months' administrative detention without trial or charge.

On 20 July, Dweik was released by the Israeli authorities and received by fellow lawmakers at the Beit Sira checkpoint. The following day he received a phone call from the then President of Egypt Mohammed Morsi congratulating him on his release. Dweik was "honored" to receive the call, stating that it represented the post-Arab Spring era.

2014 arrest Dweik was arrested by the Israelis again on 16 June 2014, following the kidnapping and murders of three Israeli teenagers. He was released on 9 June 2015.

Since 2015 Hamas recognized Dweik as the Interim President of the Palestinian National Authority and of the State of Palestine from 15 January 2009, when the elected term of Mahmoud Abbas officially expired, until 2 June 2014, when Hamas and Fatah agreed on the establishment of a national unity government under Abbas as President.

In October 2023, amidst the Gaza war, Aziz Dweik, who was then living in the West Bank, was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces.