Word: mashaal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...even if Iran was to be contained or if it changed its tune, it is hardly certain that Hizballah would follow suit. There is even less reason to think Hamas would. Israel's Dichter claims that Iran made its first overtures to Hamas in 2001 and that Khaled Mashaal, the Syrian-based leader of Hamas, is a "frequent flyer between Damascus and Tehran." But Hamas is a Sunni organization rooted in Palestinian resistance. It doesn't need Iran's encouragement to fight Israel...
...What is Khaled Mashaal's role in this...
...Khaled Mashaal is the head of the political bureau of Hamas. But Hamas is one organization, and when they take one decision, this is one decision. It is not divided from inside or outside. But you know, sometimes the Israeli media and Israel government try to show Khaled Mashaal is responsible, in order to find an excuse to target Syria, to target Khaled Mashaal. But this action, the abducted soldier, was done by the military wing of Hamas. There is separation between the political leadership and the military leadership. This does not mean the military leadership listens to the orders...
There is no clear evidence that Mashaal was responsible for the soldier's kidnapping. According to Palestinian sources close to Hamas' secretive inner workings, Mashaal had no motive for sabotaging any future peace talks between Prime Minister Haniya and the more moderate President Abbas. To the contrary, says Osama Hamdan, Hamas' chief representative in Lebanon, Mashaal was instrumental in persuading Haniya and other Hamas leaders to accept Abbas' peace proposal, a plan based on a document crafted by Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails that indirectly accepts Israel's right to exist. According to Hamdan, Mashaal "reached a kind of unity...
...sources tell TIME it's more likely that Shalit's abduction was planned by a radical Palestinian faction that believes Hamas' leaders were giving away too much to the Israelis. Whatever the case, the Israelis have made it clear that as long as their young soldier is a hostage, Mashaal's life is in danger...