Khaled Mashaal promised Tehran an Iranian embassy

DEBKAfile Exclusive, January 28, 2006, 1:12 PM (GMT+02:00):

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal promised Tehran an Iranian embassy in Ramallah very shortly after its victory – five days before the Palestinian election

The promise, indicating that Hamas was not surprised by its victory at the Jan 25 poll, was delivered at a secret meeting in Damascus on Jan. 20. On that day, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmanidejad interviewed 11 Palestinian terrorist leaders based in the Syrian capital with cameras flashing. Not so, Mashaal’s half-hour absence for a secret down-to-earth discussion with the Iranian Republic Guards Corps’ al Quds division commander Gen. Qassam Suleimi, who was in the presidential party.

DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources know Gen. Suleimi as the Islamic Republic’s supreme commander of Iran’s terrorist activities in Iraq, the rest of the Arab world, the Palestinian Authority and Israel. His meeting with the Hamas leader was the follow-up to their talks in Tehran last December, when Mashaal spent three weeks making the rounds of Iran’s terror executives. The Hamas leader intends arriving in Palestinian territory in the wake of the victory his movement snatched from the Fatah. One of his first plans is to hoist the Iranian flag over Ramallah’s Manara Square. If he sets foot in Israel-controlled territory, he will be arrested, but he can easily reach Gaza through Egypt.

DEBKAfile counter-terror sources report that Thursday, Jan 26, the day the Hamas win was declared, Mahmoud Abbas indicated that far from stepping down after his Fatah party’s defeat, is collaborating fully with the winning Hamas. During Thursday night, Abu Mazen was on the phone to the real power behind Hamas, the radical Khaled Mashaal, at his Damascus headquarters. Mashaal said he did not want to be prime minister and would therefore not appoint the new government. He advised the appointment of public Palestinian figures with international credibility as prime minister and also finance minister.

The names Hamas would find acceptable were Fatah’s Nabil Shaath, Socialist Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and independent former finance minister Salim Fayyad. The portfolio that Hamas wanted was internal security with control over Palestinian security and intelligence services. The new Palestinian ruler will also take over the PA’s television, radio and press.