Palestinian Islamist group Hamas re-elects Meshaal as its leader

           
Hamas re-elected Khaled Meshaal on Tuesday as the Islamist group's leader, at a marathon overnight closed-door meeting held in Cairo, an official with the organization said. 

Once reviled as a hardliner but now seen increasingly in the Arab world and by some Westerners as a moderate, Meshaal, 56, has headed the movement that rejects Israel's existence and controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza, since 2004.           

Born near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Meshaal steered Hamas through the upheaval unleashed by the Arab Spring uprisings. He spent decades in exile and visited Gaza for the first time ever in December.           

Meshaal left Syria about a year ago after ties ruptured with President Bashar al-Assad over the bloody civil war there.             

Building on relations with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, said to be an old friend, Meshaal moved on to win a delicate truce with arch-enemy Israel in November and has also sought to heal a rift with rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.           

Palestinian officials and analysts said Meshaal, dogged by Gaza critics of his ceasefire with Israel and efforts to reconcile with Abbas, had to be persuaded to continue as Hamas's leader for another term.            

"Meshaal was re-elected," a Hamas official said, reporting in a terse statement on Tuesday on the results of a meeting that began in the Egyptian capital on Monday. The official gave no other details of the vote by which about 60 top officials of the group had reaffirmed Meshaal anew as Hamas's political leader.            

Both Egypt and powerful Gulf emirate Qatar also lobbied strongly on Meshaal's behalf, a diplomat in the region told Reuters.           

"They saw Meshaal as a moderate and an example of a leader who saw the world more comprehensively than other hardliners in the group," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.               

European nations that boycott Hamas and list it as a terrorist group for its violence against Israel - including suicide bombings in an uprising a decade ago and rocket strikes on Israeli towns - were also seen as supportive of Meshaal retaining in his post.            


REUTERS