Khaled Meshal

(1956 - )

Khaled Meshal was born in 1956 in the Silwad neighborhood of Ramallah. He moved with his family to Kuwait and lived there until the 1990 Gulf War. He led Islamist Palestinians at Kuwait University, challenging the dominance of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization on the Kuwait University campus. Meshal participated in the foundation of the Islamic Haqq Bloc, which competed with Fateh's blocs on leading the General Union for the Palestinian Students in Kuwait.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Kuwait University and went on to teach Physics in Kuwaiti schools. He was married in 1981 and has seven children, four boys and three girls. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, Mashal moved his family to Jordan and began his work with Hamas as one of its founders. He has been a member of the Hamas Political Bureau since its inception and became its chairman in 1996.

On September 25, 1997, Israeli Mossad agents tried to poison him. He would have died, but the Mossad agents were captured and provoked a crisis in Israeli-Jordan relations. King Hussein insisted that Israel send the antidote to save Mashal's life. Israel agreed and the two agents were later released in a prisoner exchange in which Israel released Sheikh Ahmed Yassin from jail. Jordan later expelled Mashal to Qatar when Jordan's relationship with Hamas deteriorated. Mashal then moved to Damascus, Syria, where he ran the Hamas "political wing."

After the May 22, 2003, assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by the IDF, Meshal was appointed the world leader of Hamas.

Sources: Radio Free Europe, Scotsman.com, BBC, Palestine Information Center