Veteran Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was elected for a new term as head of the Palestinian Islamist movement, a party official said on Monday.
There had been speculation that Meshaal, who is based in exile, would be forced aside by the movement’s powerful leaders in the Gaza Strip, which it has controlled since 2007. Meshaal himself had said last year that he would not seek a new term.
But a Hamas official said that the party’s governing shura council re-elected him for another four years at a meeting in Cairo late on Monday.
‘The leaders of Hamas chose Meshaal,’ the high-ranking official told AFP via telephone from the Egyptian capital, requesting anonymity.
Another Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier Monday: ‘The elections take place in total secrecy, but it’s widely known that Meshaal’s term will be renewed.’
Hamas officials were in Cairo on Sunday and Monday for the vote, and to discuss with Egyptian leaders reconciliation with the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Meshaal will be aided by Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya, who heads the movement internally in the Palestinian territory, and the movement’s number two Mussa Abu Marzuq, responsible for the exiled section of Hamas.
Haniya was also in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials. Ties between Hamas and Cairo have been tense after Egyptian forces closed down dozens of smuggling tunnels on the Gaza border.
Abu Marzuq would have been favoured for leadership had Meshaal not run for another term.
A brilliant orator, Meshaal has used the freedom of movement that is denied to Hamas leaders in Gaza to criss-cross the Arab and Muslim world.
Developments in the Middle East since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 ‘pushed Hamas to choose Meshaal... who has given the movement a national face... and has good relations in the Arab world,’ a third Hamas official said Monday.
There had been speculation that Meshaal, who is based in exile, would be forced aside by the movement’s powerful leaders in the Gaza Strip, which it has controlled since 2007. Meshaal himself had said last year that he would not seek a new term.
But a Hamas official said that the party’s governing shura council re-elected him for another four years at a meeting in Cairo late on Monday.
‘The leaders of Hamas chose Meshaal,’ the high-ranking official told AFP via telephone from the Egyptian capital, requesting anonymity.
Another Hamas official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier Monday: ‘The elections take place in total secrecy, but it’s widely known that Meshaal’s term will be renewed.’
Hamas officials were in Cairo on Sunday and Monday for the vote, and to discuss with Egyptian leaders reconciliation with the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Meshaal will be aided by Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya, who heads the movement internally in the Palestinian territory, and the movement’s number two Mussa Abu Marzuq, responsible for the exiled section of Hamas.
Haniya was also in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials. Ties between Hamas and Cairo have been tense after Egyptian forces closed down dozens of smuggling tunnels on the Gaza border.
Abu Marzuq would have been favoured for leadership had Meshaal not run for another term.
A brilliant orator, Meshaal has used the freedom of movement that is denied to Hamas leaders in Gaza to criss-cross the Arab and Muslim world.
Developments in the Middle East since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 ‘pushed Hamas to choose Meshaal... who has given the movement a national face... and has good relations in the Arab world,’ a third Hamas official said Monday.