GAZA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – After receiving a hero’s welcome on his return from decades in exile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will attend a rally in Gaza on Saturday to mark the founding of his Islamist group and celebrate “victory” over Israel. At least 200,000 Palestinians are expected to attend the outdoor event, which is [...]

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Exiled Hamas chief Meshaal to lead Gaza ‘victory rally

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GAZA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – After receiving a hero’s welcome on his return from decades in exile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will attend a rally in Gaza on Saturday to mark the founding of his Islamist group and celebrate “victory” over Israel.

At least 200,000 Palestinians are expected to attend the outdoor event, which is likely to be used by Meshaal to promote Hamas’s growing stature in the Arab world and push the case for reconcilliation with its secular political rival, Fatah.

Thousands of supporters, many holding aloft the green flag of the Islamist group, gathered on rain-sodden wasteland ahead of the rally. Patriotic music blasted from loudspeakers, including the recent hit ‘Strike a Blow at Tel Aviv’.

The song refers to rockets Hamas fired at the Israeli city in last month’s eight-day conflict, and a huge model of the Gaza-made M75 missile that took aim at both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem dominated the outdoor stage set up for the speeches.

“This is a day of victory,” said Ahmed Shaheen, 60, sitting with his young children in front of the massive platform. “The presence of Khaled Meshaal is a sign of this victory.”

Meshaal, 56, is on his first visit to the Gaza Strip and was moved to tears on Friday by the ecstatic reception he received from flag-waving crowds as he toured the tiny territory, which is home to 1.7 million Palestinians.

His trip comes just two weeks after the conflict with Israel that killed some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire brought an end to the fighting.

Hamas claims it won the conflagration. Israel disputes this, saying it not only killed Hamas’s military commander, but also caused significant damage to its arsenal of rockets. There is no denying the fighting boosted Hamas’s standing in the region, winning it the support of Arab neighbours, many of whom used to treat the group as a pariah before the Arab Spring uprisings ushered in several sympathetic Islamist governments.

“Israel must now be fuming as it watches this Gaza victory,” said Abu Waleed, 52, as he stood in a crowd on Friday, waiting to catch a glimpse of Meshaal, who survived a 1997 assassination attempt by Israeli Mossad agents in Jordan.

Delegations from Qatar, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt and Bahrain were all expected to attend Saturday’s rally, which commemorates the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas and the start of the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israel on Dec. 8 1987.

Local Fatah leaders are due to attend the event – the first time Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s faction has taken part since at least 2007, when it fought a brief civil war with Hamas in Gaza that was won by the Islamist movement.




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