Abd al-Salam Abu Zayidah (‘Abd al-Salām Abū Zāyida) (عبد السلام أبو زايدة) was a mathematician who played an important role in higher education over the years as an academic administrator, teacher, and research scholar at al-Aqsa University in Gaza.
Dr. Abu Zayidah earned his BA in 1988, his MA in 1992, and his PhD in 2002, all in the field of mathematics with a specialty in geometry. He taught as a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at al-Aqsa University. He was a respected and seasoned academic administrator who was repeatedly tapped to play important administrative roles at al-Aqsa. He served as Dean of Continuing Education from September 2005 to September 2008, and as Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences from November 2010 to September 2012 and again from September 2017 to December 2019. He was appointed Dean of Graduate Studies in November 2021, a position he held up to the time of his death. He also served on the Board of the University Teachers Society – Palestine.
Dr. Abu Zayidah published a number of mathematical papers in academic journals, including papers in geometry on the properties of Dn,k and D5,2 and the size of blocking sets, upon occasion in collaboration with his colleague Muhammad al-Atrash from the Islamic University in Gaza.
The Israeli Airforce bombed a house adjacent to the Abu Zayidah family home in Jabalya Refugee Camp without prior warning on 12 December 2024, killing Dr. Abu Zayidah, age 59, and his wife, Miriam Mahmoud Abu Zayidah.
