Khaled Meshaal is a Palestinian leader and has been the head of the Islamic Resistance Movemennt, Hamas’ political bureau since 1996. He was born in 1956 in the West Bank village of Silwad and has lived in exile since the Six-Day War of 1967. Meshaal joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1971 and following the official founding of Hamas in 1987, he assumed leadership of its Kuwaiti branch. In 1991 he moved to Jordan until the organisation was expelled in 1999.
He then moved to Qatar briefly before settling in Syria. With the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution, he returned to Qatar in 2012 where he currently resides. In 1997, Meshaal was the subject of a bungled assasination attempt by agenst of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad. In 2012, he was listed 18th on British magazine the New Statesman’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Influential Figures 2010”.
He is married with three daughters and four sons.
** Please note that Khaled Meshaal has been listed as an author, due to him authoring Hamas’ policies. The publication produced by MEMO Publishers is our analysis and compilation of statements and policy documents published by Hamas, independent of MEMO Publishers. **
