Palestinian Hamas confirmed today that the former prime minister of that organization in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, was elected as the top leader of the Islamic extremist organization.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said that Haniyeh was elected today as head of the Political Bureau.
Hanije will replace Kaled Masal, who held the position for more than two decades, and now did not run for office.
Other candidates were Musa Abu Marzouk and Muhammad Nazal who was in the political bureau with Mashal when he was in Damascus.
The confirmation of the new leader's election came days after Hamas adopted a new, seemingly more pragmatic political program aimed at ending the organization's international isolation.
In the program, Hamas presented itself as a national liberation movement, and not as a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood from which it emerged. That organization is banned in Egypt.
In addition, Hamas has rejected a direct call for the destruction of Israel, but its ultimate goal is still the liberation of all of historical Palestine, which includes present-day Israel.
Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, when it took control of the territory on the Mediterranean coast by force, defeating the secular Fatah of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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