Raed Arafat Abu Al-Hummus, a former Palestinian detainee and Chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs with the rank of minister, leads the Commission through one of the most difficult stages facing Palestinian detainees, ex-detainees, and their families.
Profile Card
- Name: Raed Arafat Abu Al-Hummus
- Position: Chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, with the rank of minister
- Former detainee: Spent six years in Israeli occupation prisons
- Previous positions: Head of the International Relations Unit at the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, and Director of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society in Ramallah
- Appointment: Chairman of the Commission as of February 18, 2025
A Life Shaped by the Detainees’ Cause
At the heart of the Palestinian cause, where sacrifice meets steadfastness and national pain becomes a witness to a justice that does not fade, Raed Arafat Abu Al-Hummus stands as Chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, carrying a responsibility that is both heavy and precious.
He is not merely an official holding a public position. He is a former detainee who knew the walls of prison cells, the coldness of iron, and the bitterness of waiting. He spent six years of his life behind bars, experiencing what thousands of Palestinian detainees continue to endure today. From that experience, he emerged stronger, more deeply aware, and more firmly attached to the cause he serves.
Institutional and Human Rights Experience
Before assuming the chairmanship of the Commission with the rank of minister on February 18, 2025, by decision of President Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Al-Hummus served the detainees’ cause from several positions. He headed the Commission’s International Relations Unit, working to carry the voice of Palestinian detainees to international arenas and to every living conscience. Earlier, he served as Director of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society in Ramallah, remaining close to families, daily suffering, and the urgent needs of detainees and ex-detainees.
Leadership in a Difficult Stage
Today, he leads the Commission during one of its most challenging periods. He confronts the occupation’s systematic policies against detainees, including starvation, isolation, medical neglect, and torture; policies he rightly describes as a silent genocide. He stands with ex-detainees, including those forcibly displaced, and insists on their material and moral rights as rights that cannot be compromised.
Vision and Commitment
Abu Al-Hummus believes that detainees are not numbers in reports or administrative files. They are the living pulse of the nation. They are the people who have paid, and continue to pay, from their years and bodies for the freedom of their people. In every statement and every position he takes, one commitment remains clear: the Commission must remain a national home for all strugglers, and their rights must remain a trust carried by all of us.
At a time when some seek to erase the faces and names of sacrifice, Raed Abu Al-Hummus reminds us that Palestinian detainees are a symbol of steadfastness, and that loyalty to them is not a slogan to be raised, but a daily duty that does not end until the last detainee is free and the last forcibly displaced ex-detainee returns to family and homeland.
This is the Chairman of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs: a man who left the prison cell carrying its cause, remaining its voice, and defending its dignity.