Hamas' Meshaal re-emerges with Maghreb tour
The former head of Hamas’ political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, paid official visits to Mauritania and Morocco, a sign of the movement’s efforts to shore up support in the region.
It has been eight months since Hamas’ internal elections in May, when Khaled Meshaal stepped down to be replaced by Ismail Haniyeh as head of the movement’s political bureau. Yet Meshaal has returned to the spotlight with an official visit to Mauritania and Morocco at the end of December.
Meshaal’s tour began in Mauritania Dec. 21 to participate in the conference of the National Rally for Reform and Development (Tewassoul) in Nouakchott.
He met Dec. 23 with figures including Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, leader of the ruling party, and the Mauritanian Union for the Republic (UPR), to discuss the Jerusalem developments and the Palestinian cause.
Meshaal announced during a speech at the Dec. 24 opening ceremony of the conference that while he had come to Mauritania upon the invitation of Tewassoul, an opposition party, he had been officially welcomed by the president, who approved of the visit.
