BICOM

Khaled Meshaal has reportedly been re-elected as overall leader of Hamas after an overnight vote in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

According to AFP, a high-ranking anonymous Hamas official said, “The leaders of Hamas choose Meshaal.” Although the same official commented, “The elections take place in total secrecy,” Reuters reports that around sixty Hamas officials participated in the election process. Over the past year or so, Meshaal twice announced that he would step down from his position at the head of Hamas. However, his involvement in brokering an Egyptian-mediated truce with Israel to end Operation Pillar of Defence in November, which has largely maintained quiet in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, may have strengthened Meshaal’s hand.

Meshaal became the chief of Hamas’ political wing in 1996 and assumed overall leadership of the organisation in 2004. During that time, Meshaal has overseen numerous suicide bombings and attacks on buses, cafes and in other public places that have killed hundreds of Israelis. Although Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in 2007, Meshaal has ruled over Hamas from afar. He had been based in the Syrian capital Damascus, but left following the intensifying of the Syrian civil war and is now based in Qatar. In December, Meshaal visited the Gaza Strip for the first time.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip itself, Hamas authorities have published a new law that is set to come into effect for the next school year, stipulating that from the age of nine schools must be gender segregated and that men must not teach in girls’ schools. The new legislation will be applied to private Christian and United Nations educational institutions in addition to Hamas-run schools.