Ya Libnan

Khaled Meshaal to step down as Hamas leader

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Khaled MeshaalThe leader in exile of the political wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, is to step down by the end of the year, choosing not to run in the next elections, according to Arab media reports.

Meshaal, 56, has decided that he will not take part in the leadership elections for the Palestinian faction in perpetual conflict with Israel, the London-based Arabic newspaper Rai Alyoum reported Tuesday, as cited in The Times of Israel.

The group’s leader, currently living in exile in Qatar, is to announce his decision to step down before the elections are held, and this time he means it, the report said. In 2013, Meshaal said that he would retire but then changed his mind to run in the elections.

Meshaal has been in charge of the political wing of the organization since 1996, and was tasked with building relations with other Sunni powers such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt. The group’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, operates in the Gaza Strip and is charged with the group’s tunnel and rocket operations.

The military and political wings have been at odds since the last Gaza war due to separate aims in the group’s relations with Israel, with the military wing advocating a more aggressive stance. Successors to Meshaal could include the group’s leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, one of the most popular Palestinian politicians, or Moussa Abu Marzouk, Mashaal’s deputy.

Hamas won elections in Gaza in 2006, resulting in a power struggle with rival Palestinian faction Fatah. Hamas eventually ousted Fatah to seal control of the territory in 2007.

The group has retained control over the territory since then and has fought three wars with Israel in that time, largely conducting rocket fire into Israeli territory or surprise attacks against Israeli forces from the tunnels.

Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes on the territory and conducted ground operations in Gaza in a bid to stop both rocket and tunnel attacks. Human rights groups have accused both parties of human rights violations and potential war crimes.

NEWSWEEK

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15 responses to “Khaled Meshaal to step down as Hamas leader”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Doesn’t want to get into it with ISIS, which says they should be doing more killings.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Bizarre in Toronto Blacks are being treated like in US
      http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/world/americas/toronto-police-shootings-black-lives-matter-canada.html?s

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        “I feel that I’m obliged to do what the police want,” said Michael Upfold, 21, who is studying for a real estate brokerage license. “If you don’t, something could happen. They’re holding their guns.”
        Hmmmm … Yes, they are … never used to, but feel the need now … and when they stopped me I thought the same way .. ‘better not make a wave’. I remember being grilled when a bunch of us used the hill at a factory for toboggans.
        So … in a lifetime, there are a few stories …. and a few rules …. and the time one pulled his gun on me I didn’t go into ‘confrontation mode’ … at least, not until his head got itself adjusted. I took it up with his sergeant later in the safe police-station.
        Also, I suppose like anywhere, it’s difficult to know just by looking at a body to tell where it’s from … but you know the questions pop up in ‘some heads’.
        (‘is that guy from Africa or Jamaica?’) … or when in Lebanon … (‘is that guy a tourist???’)
        I was astounded, of course, to find that proclaiming ‘Canadian’ automatically meant I was an Israeli Spy. (so weird ;-))) BUT, I had friends helping me retreat quickly. AND I didn’t pull out an Uzi and start shooting like some Jamaican gangs do in Toronto – against folks in their own ‘hoods’ often … sometimes killing kids wit the stray lead flying around (even among Christmas shoppers on a street). And when the police ask the ones who watched it happen, no Jamaican ever saw anything happening, although they are all crying and sad. (‘Something should be done’, they wail at Newsies.)
        And yes .. indeed .. something should be done … on both sides of those walls.

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          In Quebec it’s a completely a different culture in police, we had tons of trigger happy Jamaican and Haitian macros using girls prostitution rings, but police never acted outside the law putting all coloured men in same basket.

      2. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        Sometimes cops live in the same ‘FEAR’ that Israeli ‘kid-soldiers’ do.

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          Hum…:-() ?

    2. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      He almost died from poison, the kind Hamlet father was poisoned in the ear:)) King Hussein called Israel to Immediately send anti poison. 6 Mossad agents had entered as tourists with Canadian passports to assassinate Meshaal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AL2GF65vTU

      1. Rudy1947 Avatar
        Rudy1947

        Pity it was an almost.

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Yes, perhaps … But you have to admit that it was ‘The Canadian Pretenders’ who were dumbest, in thinking that Jordanians don’t have brains that are just as good, if not better.
          ;-)))

          1. Rudy1947 Avatar
            Rudy1947

            Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn.

          2. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            And a female reporter has a good sniffer. 🙂

          3. Rudy1947 Avatar
            Rudy1947

            No thanx.

    3. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      Too mush killing in the West is promoted to create Islamophobia fear and instability this give fuel for ISIS recrutement.
      “The city – reeling from the mass shooting, the murder of a singer who competed on TV reality show “The Voice” and the death of a toddler in an alligator attack at a Disney resort hotel – was bracing for the first wake for a club victim”
      “Threats against Muslims after Orlando attack must stop, US says”.
      http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/threats-against-muslims-must-stop-after-orlando-attack-us-1602020859

    4. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAgAzWxhzxE

  2. Rudy1947 Avatar
    Rudy1947

    Khaled has managed to really annoy a lot of folks to include his fellow Arabs. It’s safer for him to stay in Qatar, he can afford it now.

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