Rashad Shawwa; Palestinian Leader in Gaza Strip

Rashad Shawwa, 79, a Palestinian leader and a former mayor of Gaza City, who was twice deposed by Israel. Shawwa was born in the Gaza Strip and studied political science at the American University in Cairo, graduating in 1934. He then returned to Gaza and became a civil servant in the British administration, reaching the position of governor of Haifa. The British fired him in 1937 because of anti-British activities. Israeli military authorities appointed Shawwa mayor of Gaza City in 1971, four years after Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the 1967 Middle East War. But he was twice deposed by the Israelis for nationalistic activities, once in 1972 and again in 1982. Shawwa came from a wealthy and influential family in the Gaza Strip, and he individually owned an orange grove and citrus packing house. In Gaza City on Tuesday of a heart attack.