Free Republic

Amir Meshal has a fascinating history. He's originally from New Jersey, but back in 2007 he was detained and interrogated by the FBI in Kenya after escaping from Somalia. Somehow, his travels brought him to Minnesota, and to a mosque in Bloomington, which kicked him out this summer. Friday prayers bring hundreds to the Al-Farooq Youth and Family Center, which is perhaps the largest mosque in the Twin Cities. But not everyone is welcome -- not after Meshal began attending prayer and hanging out earlier this year. In June, the center called police and had Meshal, 31, removed and ticketed...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas said Thursday that he welcomed what he called “new language” by President Obama toward the group. The remarks by the group’s leader, Khaled Meshal, appeared to be part of a tentative outreach by Hamas to the United States in recent weeks.

JERUSALEM, April 18 -- Former president Jimmy Carter followed through on a planned meeting with the exiled leader of Hamas on Friday, despite U.S. and Israeli protests that the session would give legitimacy to a group they consider a terrorist organization. Khaled Meshal, who is accused of masterminding kidnappings and suicide bombings, met with Carter, a Nobel Peace laureate, in Damascus, Syria, where Meshal has lived for nearly a decade. The meeting was one of the most notable exchanges to date between Hamas, which won Palestinian elections in 2006, and a prominent Western political figure. Israel and the United States...

New York, May 07: Pointing to the difficult and escalating conditions on the ground, Hamas' most powerful leader Khaled Meshal believes that new 'intifada' is imminent in Palestinian territories. "It is not a mere prediction; I estimate it will be a reality in the future" he said in an interview with Newsweek. "What does the world expect from the Palestinian people if the current conditions continue, if the economic siege continues, even after we formed the National Unity government? (There are) indicators that Israel is preparing for another [act of] aggression during the coming period, either against Lebanon, or in...

Khaled Meshal... reiterated the Hamas promise not to hurt Shalit and the position that he would be released only in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. What Meshal did do was to declare that he and not the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah, or Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, is the sole spokesman for the Palestinian people in the territories and beyond... At a time when Israel is claiming to have no partner for negotiations, Meshal declared that the road to a future military or diplomatic agreement goes through his Damascus...

An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a bridge in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday as troops prepared for a threatened offensive into the territory, Palestinian witnesses said. Israel has been planning a major push into the territory following the capture of an Israeli soldier by militants from Gaza on Sunday.