Jamal Zaqout is a politician and activist from Palestine. He was born in al-Shatiʿ refugee camp in Gaza City to a family of refugees from the town of Asdud as a result of the Nakba of 1948. He was arrested several times by the Israeli occupation authorities, and deported in 1988 outside Palestine on charges of participating in the formation of the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising. His wife, Naila Ayesh, was also arrested more than once, along with their child, who spent six months with his mother in prison. Zaqout returned to the Gaza Strip in 1994 and has since held a number of positions of political leadership.
