Hamas elects Ismail Haniya as new political chief

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NY [U.S.], May 7: Gaza based Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Saturday elected Ismail Haniya as its new political chief, replacing Qatar based veteran Khaled Meshaal. He is now expected to leave the Gaza Strip and reside overseas.

The global community widely recognizes the area defined by the 1967 borders as the site of a future Palestinian state, sitting alongside Israel in a so-called two-state solution.

Hamas is trying to rebrand itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed by Egypt. Since word of the charter additions broke, there has been little response to indicate that Western nations are sold on the image-upgrade.

The Hamas spokesman said the announcement was jointly made after Haniya and other Hamas leaders here were unable to travel to Qatar due to a blockade that is imposed on the Gaza Strip and the closure of Rafah crossing with Egypt.

It also says Hamas's struggle is not with Jews but with "occupying Zionist aggressors".

In its new platform, Hamas has softened some of its positions but reaffirmed it will not recognize Israel, renounce violence, or recognize previous interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals - the West's long-standing conditions for dealing with Hamas.

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Haniya, a father of 13, began his rise to prominence in Hamas as a close associate of the group's founder and spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by an Israeli airstrike in 2004.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, recently published a new, more pragmatic political programme to end the isolation groups, which the West consider a terrorist organization.

"They dig terror tunnels and have launched thousands upon thousands of missiles at Israeli civilians". "Hamas is attempting to fool the world, but it will not succeed", said David Keyes, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We are opposed to Hamas's acceptance of a state within the 1967 borders and we think this is a concession which damages our aims", he said on Islamic Jihad's website.

Azzam Tamimi, author of "Hamas: Unwritten Chapters", described Haniya - the group's deputy leader who served as prime minister of Gaza between 2007 and 2014 - as a "charismatic" and experienced political figure.