Middle East News
Hamas leader Mashaal wants to step down
Jan 21, 2012, 12:42 GMT
Gaza - Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal wants to leave his post, the Palestinian Islamist group said on Saturday.
Mashaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997, told Hamas's advisory body, the Shura Council, that he would not be a candidate for the group's presidency.
Mashaal, 56, lives in exile in Damascus. He has been Hamas' leader since 2004, when Israel killed the group's founder Ahmed Yassin and leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
He led unity talks in 2011 between Hamas and the rival Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Egyptian-brokered talks ended with the two parties signing an agreement, which aims to heal a rift that started after Hamas won a parliamentary election in 2006.
The deal, which still needs to be implemented, calls for parliamentary and presidential elections in May.
Ismail Haniyeh is Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip, which is run by the Islamist group.
Read more about Hamas
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