Palestinian movement Hamas elected ex-Gaza Strip chief Ismail Haniya as its new leader yesterday, days after revising its founding charter on Israel.
Haniya, seen as a pragmatist within the movement, is expected to remain in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave run by Hamas since 2007.
His predecessor Khaled Meshaal had completed the maximum two terms in office.
“The Hamas Shura Council on Saturday elected Ismail Haniya as head of the movement’s political bureau,” the group’s official website announced.
He beat Mussa Abu Marzuk and Mohamed Nazzal in a videoconference vote of the ruling council’s members in Gaza, the West Bank and outside the Palestinian territories.
The 54-year-old with a salt-and-pepper beard takes charge of Hamas as it seeks to ease its international isolation while not marginalising hardliners within the movement.
On Monday, it unveiled a new policy document on Israel. The document notably accepts the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza, the territories occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967.
The original 1988 charter will not be dropped, just supplemented, in a move some analysts see as a way of maintaining the backing of hardliners.
“The new charter and Haniya’s election are two of the biggest events in recent years,” a European official based in Jerusalem said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The question is how is Hamas going to build on this momentum,” he said, speaking in English.
Hamas’ Gaza spokesman Fawzi Barhum said the leadership transition would be smooth.“Meshaal had already set in motion a new phase,” he said. “Haniya will continue on this path.”
Leila Seurat, a researcher at the Paris-based Centre for International Studies and Research, said the election of a Gaza-based leader signaled a shift for the movement.
“His election is a sign that the Gaza leadership has regained the upper hand from those outside,” she said.
Hamas’ new document is aimed in part at easing its international isolation.
Hamas officials said the revised document in no way amounts to recognition of Israel as demanded by the international community.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman has dismissed the revision.
In February, the movement elected a hardline member of its armed wing as its new Gaza head to replace Haniya in that post.
Yahya Sinwar was jailed by Israel until October 2011, when he was freed along with more than 1,000 other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured five years earlier.
An influential military figure, he represents for some the hardest line within the movement.
Israel has fought three wars with Hamas since 2008, and maintains a crippling blockade on Gaza.
The Israeli army appeared yesterday to be urging Haniya not to seek a new confrontation.
“#Hamas elected a new leader. Time for promise & hope?” Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner posted on his official Twitter site.
“I hope (Haniya) makes good decisions for the Palestinians he aspires to lead.”
The Gaza-based Islamic Jihad group yesterday slammed the Hamas policy tweak.
“As partners with our Hamas brothers in the struggle for liberation, we feel concern over the document,” said Islamic Jihad’s deputy leader, Ziad al-Nakhala.
Ismail Haniya: pragmatist
