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Meshaal to Lead Hamas for Third Term

After promising to not seek a third term, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal has reversed his decision as a result of several factors, including regional changes relating to the Muslim Brotherhood’s ascension to power in major Arab countries, writes Omar Shaban.
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal waves to Palestinian student during his visit to the Islamic University in Gaza City December 9, 2012. Hamas's vow to vanquish Israel after claiming "victory" in last month's Gaza conflict vindicates Israel's reluctance to relinquish more land to the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. Khaled Meshaal, the leader of the Islamist Hamas movement, made a defiant speech before thousands of supporters in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, promising to take "inch-by-
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 A different election from before

In early April 2012, Hamas held elections for its party structure from top to bottom. The elections started in Gaza, where — unlike in the other three areas: the West Bank, the Israeli jails and abroad — Hamas can freely move and communicate. Hamas’s leadership comes from these four areas. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the security measures against Hamas activists in jail hampered the elections in those areas. The elections abroad were delayed because, after Hamas left Damascus, the movement’s leaders became dispersed between Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf.

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