Gaza City, 23 Jumadil Awal 1434/3 April 2013 (MINA) – Hamas on Tuesday (2/4) officially confirmed its reelection of Khaled Mashaal’s reelection as head of the movement.
The reelection of the charismatic 56-year-old as the overall head of Hamas was widely seen as a shoo-in, with his new mandate secured by a vote in Cairo late on Monday, according to Ma’an reports monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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“The Shura Council held a meeting in Cairo to elect a leader and members of the political bureau,” a Hamas statement said.
The movement’s leadership “renewed confidence in the political bureau, headed by Khalid Mashaal,” during after a late-night Monday vote of the Shura Council which groups Hamas leaders from Gaza, the West Bank and overseas, it said.
Officials had told AFP late on Monday Mashaal had been re-elected, but spoke on condition of anonymity.
His reelection was welcomed as a positive step by a senior member of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement.
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“Mashaal is a pragmatic person and may be more malleable than others in Hamas,” Fatah Central Committee member Mahmud Alul told Voice of Palestine radio.
“This may help… to achieve reconciliation,” he said, referring to efforts to bridge years of bitter rivalry between the two Palestinian national movements.
“All we want is a capable movement that can lead Hamas. There needs to be a leadership that can impose a political will — one approach and not contradictory ones — especially in terms of reconciliation and the overall Palestinian cause,” he said.
There was no official reaction from Israel to his reelection, although public radio described Mashaal as a “pragmatist with charisma,” saying he represented “hardcore Hamas with a Western facade.”
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In recent years, Mashaal has modified his position adopting an implicit acceptance of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, although Tel Aviv has remained guarded.
Following speculation he would be forced aside by the movement’s powerful Gaza leadership, Mashaal himself said last year he would not seek a new term.
But after the regional turmoil sparked by the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, the thinking shifted, and Mashaal was seen as best-placed to guide the movement through the rapidly changing environment because of his extensive contacts in the Arab world, another Hamas official said.
Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a politics professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, agreed.
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“Arab and regional changes were the fundamental reason for Mashaal changing his mind about candidacy, and for his victory,” he told AFP.
Mashaal has used the freedom of movement that is denied to Hamas leaders in Gaza to criss-cross the Arab and Muslim world, raising the profile of the Islamist movement which seized control of the coastal enclave from forces loyal to Abbas six years ago.
Hamas sources said the Shura Council had decided to appoint two deputies who would work under Mashaal — Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh who would be responsible for issues within the Palestinian territories, and Moussa Abu Marzouq who would handle all external issues.
Mashaal, who was born in the West Bank but went into exile as a child, made his first-ever visit to Gaza in December where he received a hero’s welcome as he attended the celebrations marking 25 years since the founding of Hamas.
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He was propelled to the movement’s leadership in 2004 after Israel assassinated Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his successor Abdelaziz al-Rantissi in two deadly strikes on Gaza.
He himself is no stranger to Israeli attempts on his life, surviving a bungled assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997 when agents of Israel’s Mossad spy agency tried to poison him.
Mashaal was for years based in Damascus but last year he relocated to Doha, severing ties with President Bashar Assad’s regime which has been battling a major uprising since March 2011.
Hamas has been subjected to a Western boycott since it won a shock victory over the long-dominant Fatah movement in a 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election.
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Nearly 18 months later, bitter infighting between the rival movements escalated into bloody street battles in Gaza, which culminated in Hamas expelling Fatah loyalists and seizing control of the territory, Although the two factions signed a unity deal in April 2011, the agreement has largely stalled. (T/P012/P03)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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