Abdel Qader Saif Al-Din Abdel Moneim Khatib, Deputy Chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs with the rank of Undersecretary, is a former detainee whose work brings together lived experience, academic knowledge, and institutional commitment to the cause of Palestinian detainees and ex-detainees.
Profile Card
- Name: Abdel Qader Saif Al-Din Abdel Moneim Khatib
- Position: Deputy Chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, with the rank of Undersecretary
- Place and date of birth: Jerusalem – September 30, 1969
- Years of detention: 1986 – 1994, eight years in Israeli occupation prisons
- Academic qualifications: High School Certificate (Bagrut), Jerusalem, 2009; Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, Al-Quds Open University, 2014; Master’s Degree in Criminology, Al-Quds University, 2017; PhD candidate in Sociology
Deputy Chairman of the Commission
Between the quiet of offices and the noise of prison cells, and in the narrow space between pain and action, Abdel Qader Saif Al-Din Abdel Moneim Khatib stands as Deputy Chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, with the rank of Undersecretary, carrying a responsibility that is not measured by titles, but by loyalty.
He is a son of Jerusalem, born there on September 30, 1969, and raised in a city that never sleeps. In 1986, while still a young man, he entered the world of Israeli prisons and remained there until 1994. For eight full years behind the walls, he came to know the meaning of deprivation and the strength of will when tested under the harshest conditions. He left prison, but he did not leave the cause; he carried it with him into public life, institutional work, and academia.
Education as an Extension of Experience
After his release, Khatib continued his education. He obtained his high school certificate, then earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Al-Quds Open University, followed by a Master’s Degree in Criminology from Al-Quds University. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology. For him, education has never been merely a certificate; it is another tool placed in the service of those with whom he once shared the prison experience.
Institutional and Field Work
For years, Khatib has served as Undersecretary of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, accompanying its leadership in field visits and official meetings, and following up daily on the conditions of detainees, ex-detainees, and their families. He appears in solidarity activities, visits to released detainees, and institutional meetings with a calm yet firm voice, reminding everyone that the detainees’ cause is not an administrative file, but a debt carried by all of us.
Uninterrupted Loyalty
Abdel Qader Khatib is not an official merely performing a duty. He is a former detainee who chose to remain on the front line of defending his brothers and sisters. He combines the deep experience of imprisonment with academic knowledge, closeness to people, and institutional work. In every step he takes, he seems to say: as long as the prison cells remain open, the work does not end.
At a time when the occupation attempts to erase faces and names, Abdel Qader Khatib remains a face of loyalty and a voice reminding us that detainees are not numbers, but loved ones waiting for us; and that the road to their freedom begins here, with the daily insistence that we do not forget them.