Meshaal kisses Gaza soil on first visit since exile

Meshaal's visit ends 45 years of exile from Palestinian Territories Gaza – Mohammed Habib Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, has crossed into the Gaza Strip on Friday for his first-ever visit to the Palestinian territory. Accompanied by his deputy, Mussa Abu Marzuk, and other senior officials, he drove through the crossing and then got out and kissed the ground before embracing Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.
Meshaal's visit ends 45 years of exile from Palestinian Territories.
Movement leaders and, for the first time, foreign figures, are arriving in Gaza to take part in the event and celebrate the resistance’s victory in the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza.
The landmark visit marks the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip, with Meshaal to be hosted throughout his four-day visit by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, an official said.
The two leaders are to hold a news conference in Rafah before travelling to Gaza City to visit the home of the late Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004.
Meshaal will meet members of different Palestinian factions as well as local people and families who lost someone or were injured in last month's conflict with Israel, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri said in a statement on Thursday.
On the ground, hundreds of police, security personnel and Hamas militants from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were deployed along the main road running the length of the strip where Meshaal's convoy was to travel.
The chief of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, is also expected to attend the anniversary celebrations, but a sources in that militant movement said he would likely cancel the trip over Israeli objections.
"The Egyptians told Ramadan Shallah that they (Israeli leaders) would end the ceasefire if he came to Gaza," an anonymous source said.
"Islamic Jihad had contacts with the Egyptians on this question and Ramadan Shallah will most likely cancel the visit," he added.
Discussing Meshaal's visit, Hamas official Sayed Abu Musameh said this was “a new experience for the movement" adding that "the group can no longer be ignored on the world stage."
Abu Musameh also pointed out that Hamas’ relationship with other Palestinian factions “were characterised by a lack of belief in the other,” and that Hamas’ relationship with the Islamic Jihad movement has been experiencing “agreement on Jihadi and political awareness.”
On reconciliation, he said “both camps are able to end the division, but intentions alone are not enough” adding that “the Oslo phase restricted all factions” and “unity must be sought away from weak agreements.”
On regional matters, Abu Musameh said it was “impossible to surpass the most important triumvirate: Turkey, Iran and the Arabs.” He said there was a “complementary movement” between Arab revolutions and the Palestinian cause,” adding that Arabs were “at the beginning of a new stage that will eventually return to the essential cause of Palestine.”
Attitudes to Hamas have varied among Arab and Islamic regimes, some which have supported the movement and some rejected it even when one of its leaders became the head of the Palestinian government.
Hamas leader Ahmed Yussef said the movement has been “closest to the pulse of the Palestinian street” over its 25-year history, but accepted that the Palestinian division and the Gaza blockade “in addition to the internal state of polarisation” had“weakened the movement’s status.”
The recent war, however, helped Hamas retrieve much of its popularity, Yussef said, adding that Hamas has also “come to realise that it cannot exclude the Fatah Movement.”
Fatah’s Gaza official, Dr Yehia Rabbah has meanwhile said Hamas’ religious origins have not prevented it from being “a political creature,” capable of adapting to changes if necessary. “The movement has the ability to cross red lines,” he said.
Assessing Hamas in government, Rabbah restricted his response to noting that Hamas’ conduct in the last Israeli war on the Gaza Strip was “better than in 2008,” citing the absence of food shortages.
Commenting on the history of the Islamist movement, Palestinian political analyst Hamza Ismail Abu Shanab singled out the year 1996 as a turning point for Hamas during which the group performed several operations in Israel.” The operations were in response to the killing of Yehia Ayash, a prominent leader in Hamas’ military wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. This was followed by the Sharm al-Sheikh Conference in which the group was classified as a terrorist organisation. The group became financially and politically pursued and many of its members were arrested.
Abu Shanab also pointed the year 2006 as a crucial date for Hamas, during which it “entered the legislative elections with different manifestos, garnering the highest number of Palestinian votes.”
“The failure of the settlement programme with Israel began a new stage in the movement’s development, marked with a flexible attitude,” Abu Shanab said, adding that this flexibility“had allowed the movement to accept recognition of a Palestinian state at 1967 borders, while also continuing to adopt a programme of armed resistance.”
Hamas marks its official anniversary on December 14, but celebrations are set to begin earlier with a major rally on Saturday, when Meshaal is expected to speak.
Rating the movement’s success, Abu Shanab said it “continues to face obstacles in contact with the external world, despite its success in imposing itself as an important part of the Palestinian equation.”
The analyst said Hamas has been able to “maintain its unity and avoid division.”
On the movement’s local image, Abu Shanab said there was “as much approval of its performance in the Palestinian street as disapproval.”
The local population had “greatly welcomed” tightened security in Gaza, Abu Shanab said, citing Palestinian division as well an unemployment and Hamas’ practice of excluding non-members from jobs as sources of unpopularity for the organisation.