GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian movement Hamas on Saturday elected Ismail Haniyeh to head its political office, a leadership change that comes as the Islamist group looks to reconcile with Palestinian rivals.

FILE PHOTO: Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures before delivering a farewell speech for his former position as a Hamas government Prime Minister, in Gaza City June 2, 2014. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem/File Photo

Haniyeh, a former deputy chief, will replace Qatar-based veteran Khaled Meshaal, who steps down at the end of his term limit just as Hamas appeared to have softened its stance toward Israel in a new policy document last week.

The group maintains a sizeable armed wing in the Gaza Strip since seizing the coastal territory in 2007 from the rival Fatah party, which is based in the West Bank, and has fought three wars with Israel.Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the election.

Gaza-born Haniyeh, 54, served as Palestinian prime minister after Hamas won a 2006 parliamentary election and he continued to claim the title, despite being officially sacked by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah.

One senior Fatah official, Azzam Al-Ahmed, wished Haniyeh “good luck” and called on him to make an effort to end the Palestinian divisions.

But Al-Ahmed also said Hamas must give up its control of Gaza, something Haniyeh has refused to do.

Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union. Some political analysts and U.N. officials believe a more regular engagement with Hamas’s political wing could help moderate the group’s overall position.

Gaza-based political analyst Hani Habib said he did not forsee a big paradigm shift in internal Palestinian politics under the new leadership.

Haniyeh, he expects, will be “more flexible on different aspects, maybe foremost is the reconciliation, though I don’t see a near end to divisions given the wide gap between the positions of Hamas and Fatah.”

Hamas last week dropped its longstanding call for Israel’s destruction and severed ties with the Muslim Brotherhood in a policy shakeup announced at its main overseas office in the Qatari capital.

The move, dismissed by Israel, appeared aimed at improving ties with Gulf states and Egypt as Abbas visited new U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, who expressed interest in renewing Israeli-Palesitinian peace efforts.

Hamas in its new document agrees to a transitional Palestinian state within frontiers pre-dating the 1967 Middle East war but continues to refuse to recognize a right for Israel to exist and backs an armed struggle, while Abbas recognizes Israel and seeks a final peace agreement based on those lines.</s>GAZA, May 6 (Reuters) - The Palestinian movement Hamas elected Ismail Haniyeh to lead its political office on Saturday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters in Gaza.

Former deputy chief Haniyeh will replace Qatar-based veteran leader Khaled Meshaal, who steps down at the end of his term limit just as Hamas softened its stance toward Israel in a new policy document last week.

The group maintains a sizeable armed wing in the Gaza strip since seizing the coastal territory in 2007 from the rival Fatah party based in the West Bank and has fought three wars with Israel.

Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the election.

Gaza-born Haniyeh, 54, served as Palestinian prime minister after the group's victory in 2006 polls and continued to claim the title despite being officially sacked by Palestinian president and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas dropped its longstanding call for Israel's destruction and severed ties with the Muslim Brotherhood in its policy shakeup announced at its main overseas office in the Qatari capital Doha last week.

The move, dismissed by Israel, appeared aimed at improving ties with Gulf states and Egypt as Abbas visited new U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, who expressed interest in renewing Israeli-Palesitinian peace efforts.

Hamas in its new document agrees to a transitional Palestinian state within frontiers pre-dating a 1967 war but continues to refuse to recognize a right for Israel to exist and backs an "armed struggle", while Abbas recognizes Israel and seeks a final peace agreement based on those lines. (Reporting By Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Noah Browning; Editing by Keith Weir)</s>Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip, said Saturday that it had chosen Ismail Haniyeh, a charismatic grassroots politician, as its new political chief, the latest move in an effort to refresh the militant Islamist group’s leadership and manifesto.

Haniyeh, seen as a relative moderate with close ties to Hamas’ military wing, will move from Gaza City to Hamas headquarters in Doha, Qatar, to take over from Khaled Meshaal, who has been responsible for the organization’s foreign relations and financing for the last 12 years.

The announcement caps several months of voting among Hamas’ far-flung members in Gaza, the West Bank, Israeli jails and abroad to select a replacement for Meshaal, who sought to step down.

It comes a few days after Hamas unveiled a revised charter that eased its position on Israel and distanced itself from Islamist groups in the region in what was seen as a bid to reverse years of growing isolation in the region.

Hamas, classified as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Israel, has been buffeted by upheavals across the Arab world, which resulted in bruised relations and reduced support from governments in Iran, Syria and Egypt.

While Haniyeh is expected to continue Meshaal’s program of emphasizing improved relations with Arab countries around the region and reaching out to Western countries, his ascent to the organization’s top position is seen as rebalancing influence within Hamas toward its Gaza leadership and its Qassem Brigades military wing, and away from its foreign political bureau.

“This election shifts the center of gravity in the movement to Gaza,” said Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian Authority spokesman and a vice president of Bir Zeit University. “This is probably an indication of the increase of the power of the inside — particularly the military wing.”

Haniyeh, 54, led Hamas to its 2006 victory in a Palestinian parliamentary election and served as the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. He remained the organization’s political leader in Gaza following its takeover of the territory a decade ago from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party as well as through years of blockade and war with Israel.

Earlier this year, Hamas selected Sinwar Yahya, a hardline military leader, to replace Haniyeh as the top leader in Gaza — a move that many feared could help spark a new round of fighting with Israel.

Haniyeh, who served as an assistant to Hamas’ founding spiritual leader, Sheikh Amed Yassin, and whose home is in a Gaza City refugee camp, is consistently ranked by Palestinian opinion polls as one as the most popular politicians.

“Under its new leadership, the movement must continue and intensify its efforts to strengthen internal Palestinian relations … strengthen the steadfastness of our people, and mobilize Arab, Islamic and international powers to stand by the Palestinian people,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in a statement announcing Haniyeh’s selection.

Last week, Hamas unveiled a series of additions to its charter that expressed support for establishing a provisional Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — seen as a tacit acceptance of Israel. The new manifesto emphasized that Hamas is first and foremost a Palestinian movement — an effort to distance itself from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and improve ties with the government in Cairo. It also sought to distance the organization from the anti-Semitic language of its original charter.

A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netahyahu rejected the revised charter as an effort to “fool the world.’’

Despite Haniyeh’s reputation as an affable leader who helped push Hamas to compete in elections that were expected to moderate the organization, the years of conflict with Israel and estrangement from Fatah have hardened the newly elected political leader and made him more inclined to go along with the military wing, said one analyst.

“Haniyeh was radicalized by the situation in Gaza,” said Bjorn Brenner, a researcher on Palestinian politics at the Swedish Defense University and the author of a book on Hamas. “He was one of the leaders who believed that participating in the political system would make the international community open their arms, strengthen the Palestinians, and force Israel to deal with Hamas. It didn’t go like that.’’

Special correspondents Abualouf reported from Gaza City and Mitnick from Tel Aviv</s>In a policy document presented in Doha by its leader Khaled Meshaal, Hamas also said it would end its association with the Muslim Brotherhood, a move apparently aimed at improving ties with Gulf Arab states and Egypt, which view the Brotherhood as a terrorist group.

Israel responded to the announcement by accusing Hamas of trying to "fool the world", while the group's main Palestinian political rival, the Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas, also reacted coolly to the policy shift.

The publication of the policy document comes two days before Abbas is due to visit Washington, and days after President Donald Trump told Reuters he may travel to Israel this month and sees no reason why there should not be peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

"We don't want to dilute our principles but we want to be open. We hope this (document) will mark a change in the stance of European states towards us," Meshaal told reporters.

Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, said in the document it agreed to a transitional Palestinian state within the borders of 1967, when Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in a war with Arab states. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

"Hamas advocates the liberation of all of Palestine but is ready to support the state on 1967 borders without recognizing Israel or ceding any rights," said Meshaal, in a shift that brings Hamas more into line with the position of Fatah.

Israel said the document aimed to deceive the world that Hamas was becoming more moderate.

"Hamas is attempting to fool the world but it will not succeed," said David Keyes, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "They dig terror tunnels and have launched thousands upon thousands of missiles at Israeli civilians. This is the real Hamas."

Founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Egyptian Islamist movement, Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since 2007 and has carried out hundreds of armed attacks in Israel and in Israeli-occupied territories.

Many Western countries classify Hamas as a terrorist group over its failure to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements.

Meshaal said Hamas's fight was not against Judaism as a religion but against what he called "aggressor Zionists".

Fatah spokesman Osama al-Qawasme upbraided Hamas for taking decades to join Fatah in accepting a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, a position Hamas used to criticize Fatah for.

"Hamas's new document is identical to that taken by Fatah in 1988. Hamas is required to make an apology to Fatah after 30 years of accusing us of treason for that policy," Qawasme said.

It remained unclear whether the document replaces Hamas's 1988 charter, which calls for Israel’s destruction. Meshaal said the document would "guide Hamas's daily political activity".

Abbas's Palestinian Authority has engaged in peace talks with Israel on the basis of seeking a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, although the last, U.S.-mediated round collapsed three years ago.

There was no immediate comment on Monday from Egypt and Gulf Arab states to the Hamas document.

"For Hamas ... it's a signal of their desire to align with conservative Sunni elements in the region and create some immunity (from Saudi pressure)," said Beverley Milton-Edwards, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre and author of a book on Hamas.

But while the document could strengthen Hamas's position in the Palestinian Territories and the Middle East, she said, it was unlikely to lead "to any definitive swing in opinion in the group's favor in the United States or even Europe."

Meshaal said Hamas remained part of the Muslim Brotherhood's "intellectual school" but was "an independent Palestinian organization".

U.S.-allied Arab states including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia classify the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The 89-year-old Brotherhood held power in Egypt for a year after a popular uprising in 2011, but was then removed by the army after mass street protests.

The Brotherhood denies links with Islamist militants and advocates Islamist political parties winning power through elections, which Saudi Arabia considers a threat to its system of absolute power through inherited rule.</s>Gaza: The Palestinian movement Hamas elected Ismail Haniyeh to lead its political office on Saturday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters in Gaza.

Former deputy chief Haniyeh will replace Qatar-based veteran leader Khaled Meshaal, who is stepping down from the group just as it softened its stance toward Israel in a new policy document last week.</s>The Hamas Islamic militant movement that controls the Gaza Strip announced Saturday it had chosen its former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as the group's new political chief.

Haniyeh succeeds Hamas' longtime exiled leader Khaled Mashaal, and the move comes shortly after Gaza's rulers unveiled a new, seemingly more pragmatic political program aimed at ending the group's international isolation.

Hamas is trying to rebrand itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed by Egypt. It has also dropped explicit language calling for Israel's destruction, though it retains the goal of eventually "liberating" all of historic Palestine, which includes what is now Israel.

Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007, after securing an overwhelming victory in legislative elections the previous year and ending 40 years of political domination by its rival party Fatah. Hamas violently overthrew forces loyal to the Fatah movement — led by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — to capture the Gaza Strip.

Israel, along with Egypt, has been enforcing a crippling border blockade against them since then. Though it has softened some of its rhetoric, Hamas' new platform clung to the hard-line positions that led to its isolation. The group reaffirmed it will not recognize Israel, renounce violence or recognize previous interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals — the West's long-standing conditions for dealing with Hamas.

In its founding charter, Hamas called for setting up an Islamic state in historic Palestine, or the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, which also includes Israel.

Over the years, Hamas has carried out shootings, suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel. Since 2008, Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza have fought three cross-border wars. Abbas has been an outspoken opponent of violence, saying it undercuts Palestinian interests. Repeated reconciliation efforts between the Palestinian factions have failed.

Haniyeh's selection marks the final phase of the secretive Hamas elections.

In February, the group chose militant commander Yehiya Sinwar, one of its most hard-line figures, as its new Gaza chief in charge of the group's core power base.

Haniyeh, 54, was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza. He was the private secretary of Hamas' founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin.

In 2006, after Hamas won the legislative elections, Haniyeh was chosen by the movement to form its first government. He resigned as prime minister after Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government in 2014 — a government has never took hold.

For the past four years he has served as Mashaal's deputy.

Haniyeh's first task will be to cope with escalating tensions between Hamas and Fatah. In recent weeks, Abbas has threatened to exert financial pressure, including cutting wage payments and aid to Gaza, as a way of forcing Hamas to cede ground.

In the past, Hamas has sharply criticized Abbas' political program, which rests on setting up a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.</s>JERUSALEM, May 7 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday symbolically tossed into a bin a Hamas policy paper published last week that set out an apparent softening of the Palestinian Islamist group’s stance towards Israel.

In a document issued last Monday, Hamas said it was dropping its longstanding call for Israel’s destruction, but said it still rejected the Jewish state’s right to exist and continued to back “armed struggle” against it.

The Israeli government has said the document aimed to deceive the world that Hamas was becoming more moderate.

Netanyahu, in a 97-second video clip aired on social media on Sunday, said that news outlets had been taken in by “fake news“. Sitting behind his desk with tense music playing in the background, he said that in its “hateful document”, Hamas “lies to the world”. He then pulled up a waste paper bin, crumpled the document into a ball and tossed it away.

“The new Hamas document says that Israel has no right to exist, it says every inch of our land belongs to the Palestinians, it says there is no acceptable solution other than to remove Israel… they want to use their state to destroy our state,” Netanyahu said.

WATCH: Israel looking to ‘advance peace’ with President Trump: Israeli PM

Founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Egyptian Islamist movement, Hamas has fought three wars with Israel since 2007 and has carried out hundreds of armed attacks in Israel and in Israeli-occupied territories.

Many Western countries classify Hamas as a terrorist group over its failure to renounce violence, recognise Israel’s right to exist and accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements.

Outgoing Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Hamas’s fight was not against Judaism as a religion but against what he called “aggressor Zionists”. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, was named on Saturday to succeed Meshaal.

Netanyahu concluded his clip by saying that “Hamas murders women and children, it’s launched tens of thousands of missiles at our homes, it brainwashes Palestinian kids in suicide kindergarten camps,” before binning the document.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas is confirming that its former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh has been chosen as the Islamic militant group’s top leader.

Spokesman for the militant group Fawzi Barhoum says Haniyeh was picked Saturday as Hamas politburo chief. He replaces Khaled Mashaal, its longtime leader.

The announcement comes shortly after Gaza’s rulers unveiled a new, seemingly more pragmatic political program aimed at ending the group’s international isolation.

Hamas is trying to rebrand itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed by Egypt. It has also dropped explicit language calling for Israel’s destruction, though it retains the goal of eventually “liberating” all of historic Palestine, which includes what is now Israel.</s>The Palestinian movement Hamas elected Ismail Haniyeh to lead its political office on Saturday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters in Gaza.

GAZA: The Palestinian movement Hamas elected Ismail Haniyeh to lead its political office on Saturday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters in Gaza.

Former deputy chief Haniyeh will replace Qatar-based veteran leader Khaled Meshaal, who is stepping down from the group just as it softened its stance toward Israel in a new policy document last week.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Hamas Islamic militant movement that controls the Gaza Strip announced Saturday it had chosen its former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as the group’s new political chief.

Haniyeh succeeds Hamas’ longtime exiled leader Khaled Mashaal, and the move comes shortly after Gaza’s rulers unveiled a new, seemingly more pragmatic political program aimed at ending the group’s international isolation.

Hamas is trying to rebrand itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed by Egypt. It has also dropped explicit language calling for Israel’s destruction, though it retains the goal of eventually “liberating” all of historic Palestine, which includes what is now Israel.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group hoped Haniyeh’s election “would see opening to the region.”

Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007, after securing an overwhelming victory in legislative elections the previous year and ending 40 years of political domination by its rival Fatah party. Hamas captured the coastal strip by violently overthrowing forces loyal to the Fatah movement, led by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel, along with Egypt, has been enforcing a crippling border blockade against them since then. Though it has softened some of its rhetoric, Hamas’ new platform clung to the hard-line positions that led to its isolation. The group reaffirmed it will not recognize Israel, renounce violence or recognize previous interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals — the West’s long-standing conditions for dealing with Hamas.

In its founding charter, Hamas called for setting up an Islamic state in historic Palestine, or the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, which also includes Israel. It also included anti-Jewish references.

Over the years, Hamas has carried out shootings, suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel. Since 2008, Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza have fought three cross-border wars. Abbas has been an outspoken opponent of violence, saying it undercuts Palestinian interests. Repeated reconciliation efforts between the Palestinian factions have failed. Hamas has sharply criticized Abbas’ political program, which rests on setting up a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

Haniyeh’s selection marks the final phase of the secretive Hamas elections.

In February, the group chose militant commander Yehiya Sinwar, one of its most hard-line figures, as its new Gaza chief in charge of the group’s core power base.

Haniyeh, 54, was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza. He was the private secretary of Hamas’ founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin.

In 2006, after Hamas won the legislative elections, Haniyeh was chosen by the movement to form its first government. He resigned as prime minister after Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government in 2014 — a government that has never taken hold.

For the past four years he has served as Mashaal’s deputy.

Haniyeh’s first task will be to cope with escalating tensions between Hamas and Fatah. In recent weeks, Abbas has threatened to exert financial pressure, including cutting wage payments and aid to Gaza, as a way of forcing Hamas to cede ground.

Gaza resident Rani Abu Samra said he hoped Haniyeh’s election could bridge gaps with Fatah and mark “a new beginning for a real reconciliation on the internal Palestinian level.”

In Gaza, where Haniyeh still resides in his home in a refugee camp, some residents saw his election as a sign that could draw attention to the territory’s woes.

“If someone is from outside Gaza, he won’t talk about Gaza’s ordeals and worries properly,” said Ahmed Okasha, a Gaza vendor.

Since quitting his longtime base in Damascus in 2012, Mashaal has mostly lived in lavish suites in the capital of the oil rich gulf state of Qatar.

Mkhaimar Abusada, a professor of political science at Gaza’s al-Azhar University, said Haniyeh was a natural successor to Mashaal and represented “a continuation for the moderate line in Hamas.”

Israel had no immediate comment.
Hamas, which is seeking to reconcile with rival Palestinian organizations, elects former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh its new leader, replacing term-limited Khaled Meshaal. Last week, Hamas dropped its longstanding call for Israel's destruction, and severed ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.