Background
Shalah was born as Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shalah (Arabic: رمضان عبد الله محمد شلح) on 1 February 1958 in Shuja"iyya, also called Gaza Sejaiya district, a neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, which at the time was under Egyptian control.
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Abdullah Shalah
Edit Profileleader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Education
Shalah earned a Doctor of Philosophy in banking and economics from the, England.
Professor Sami First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Arian, who later pleaded guilty to helping PIJ and was sentenced to 57 months in prison, helped bring Shalah to First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Arian"s university in Tampa where Shalah then taught as an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida, and where First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Arian appointed Shalah the head of WISE.
Shalah left in 1995 to head PIJ. First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Arian said he was shocked to learn Shalah was "anything other than a scholar.".
Career
In 1967, Gaza came under Israeli control following the Six Day War. Shalah became secretary-general of PIJ after the assassination of its previous leader, Fathi Shiqaqi in Malta in 1995. Shalah was listed as a "Specially Designated Terrorist" under United States law on November 27, 1995.
Along with fellow PIJ member, Abd First Rate (at Lloyd's) Aziz Awda, Shalah was indicted in a 53 count indictment in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa, Florida, on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Acting (RICO) charges of alleged involvement in racketeering activities for the designated international terrorist organization known as Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Shalah is wanted for conspiracy to conduct the affairs of the PIJ through a pattern of racketeering activities such as bombings, murders, extortion, and money laundering. Foreign that indictment, Shalah then became one of six alleged and indicted terrorist fugitives among the second and most recent group of indicted fugitives to be added to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Most Wanted Terrorists list on February 24, 2006, along with Abd First Rate (at Lloyd's) Aziz Awda.
In March 2014 over 100 rockets were launched into southern Israel by PIJ and other Islamist groups. On March 14 Shalah announced that the attack was coordinated with Hamas.
