The Islamic Resistance Movement “Hamas” has completed the first of its tasks in electing the new head of the General Political Bureau in the “Gaza arena,” the most difficult of the three arenas, which witnessed the voting of the members of the General Shura Council present in this arena, where Dr. Khalil Al-Hayya, the head of the movement in Gaza, recorded a resounding victory over his rival Khaled Meshaal, the head of the movement in the “abroad arena.”
An informed source in Hamas that the elections in Gaza were held on Saturday, in accordance with the system in place within the movement’s frameworks, and in a “very secretive” manner.
The snake and “Gaza Square”
According to the source, the elections, in which 23 members from the Gaza Strip voted, representing the Strip’s share in the General Shura Council, whose total number is 69 members, took place in a way that did not bring the members together in one place, in light of the strict security precautions taken by the movement, in light of the Israeli security pursuits and assassination operations targeting its leaders.
At the end of the day, the results were announced internally, and they resulted in a landslide victory for Haniyeh over his rival Meshaal in these internal elections.
But the Hamas source said that this does not mean a complete victory, as there are still two arenas where elections have not yet taken place, namely the West Bank and the diaspora, which will be the deciding factor in determining the final result.
The source expected that the new head of the political bureau would be decided in this round, which was set by the Hamas leadership and is the third round, after two previous rounds in which neither of the leaders, Haniyeh and Meshaal, were able to reach the required number of votes, which is 36 members of the General Shura Council.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi had revealed two days earlier in a previous report the movement’s new direction for choosing the head of the political bureau, and at that time another source said that the movement in Gaza was pushing for the election of Haniyeh, including the officials of the military wing, while there are other influential leaders from the external arenas pushing for the election of Meshaal, due to his presence and strong relations with many influential regional parties.
Preparations in the West Bank and abroad
The elections will be held in these two venues by next Wednesday. The voting is expected to take place on a full working day, during which the votes of the members of the General Shura Council who are located in different areas of the world or in the West Bank will be taken, in a special way adopted internally by the movement, in addition to the votes of the Shura Council members who are present at the meeting place, where most of the Hamas leadership members are located in Turkey.
When either of the two contenders, Haniyeh or Mashaal, obtains the required number of members, he will become the head of the General Political Bureau, who assumes the responsibility of leading the Hamas movement in the three arenas, in this difficult stage that the movement is going through, due to the long war on Gaza.
The new head of the movement will replace the five-member leadership council, headed by Mohammed Darwish, the head of the General Shura Council, since the assassination of the former head of the political bureau, Yahya Sinwar, in October 2014. Sinwar had taken over from the former head of the political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, who was also assassinated by Israel in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in July of the same year.
The new president will immediately take over the 18-member General Political Bureau, which includes the new representative of the movement’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, who was chosen after Israel assassinated the wing’s commander, Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, in a raid on Gaza City last May.
The General Political Bureau represents the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and abroad, by selecting six members from each region.
New leaders in the political bureau
The source in Hamas that the General Political Bureau witnessed the entry of new leaders who are occupying the position for the first time, explaining that it may not announce, as in previous times, the formation of the council to the media, due to Israeli persecutions.
In recent times, Hamas has typically announced, after the elections in all areas have concluded, the names of the members of its sub-political offices and the general political office.
The voting process ends by Wednesday in the West Bank and abroad.
If Haniyeh wins, he will leave the leadership of Hamas in Gaza, and most likely Ali al-Amoudi, one of the most prominent leaders of the
