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The Khaled Mishaal Interview (1 of 7)
Ghassan Charbel Al-Hayat 2003/12/5
Khaled Mishaal was born on 28/05/1956 in the village of Selwad in Ramallah district. It is a conservative village where the deep-rooted people work in agriculture. The stories of his father Abdulrahim about participating in the resistance against the British mandate influenced his mind and heart. In the 1960s, his father went to work in Kuwait. After the 1967 war, the family joined him and Khaled was enrolled in one of the schools. From Khaled bin Walid School to Al Hariri Complementary School, the Palestinian atmosphere was recalling the echo of the painful defeat in 1967. Later, the echo of the shiny image of the Fedayeen in 1968. He shifted to religious activism in Abdullah Al Salem High School as a result of his companionship with a number of young people in the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1971, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood organization. In an atmosphere of Palestinian anger in Kuwait, the young man saw Yasser Arafat, Salah Khalaf and Khaled Al Hassan. He almost left school many a time to join the Fedayeen. However, his excellence at school pushed him to postpone this project, for he thought that education would later on help him to play his national role.
Between 1974 and 1978, he was a physics student at Kuwait University when he was preoccupied with the national and Islamic issues. He still remembers the 1973 war, the war in Lebanon, the Palestinians commemorating Earth Day in 1976, in addition to his colleagues going to execute suicide operations inside Palestine and seeing President Anwar Sadat visiting the Israeli Knesset in 1977. At university, he headed what was known as the List of Islamic Right, which came about as result of confrontations between Fatah and other blocs, in the students' union three years after the formation of what was known as the Islamic Union of Palestine's Students. He taught after graduating. He was married in 1980. He is the father of three daughters and four sons.
In the first half of the 1980s, Hamas was being secretly, and gradually, created in several places. Mishaal was a partner in these stages long before he became a public official. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, he was on a vacation in Amman. Ten days later, before the complete suspension of flights, he headed to Baghdad and then to the border town of Safouan. From there, he went to Kuwait. Entering Kuwait was risky because travelers did not know about the curfew and were almost shot. He spent a week in Kuwait and went back to Baghdad.
A new stage began. Khaled Mishaal holds a Jordanian passport and hence, there should be no problem to stay there. However, he is not an ordinary "citizen" in a country where the Jordanian-Palestinian relations are ruled by very complicated considerations. Especially after Jordan chose to establish relations with Israel. In Amman, which is near the frontline, Khaled Mishaal's role grew in parallel with the escalation of Hamas' role internally and the launching of suicide operations. In 1996, his companions elected him as a chairman of the political bureau. However, the biggest and most dangerous event came a year later, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the Mossad's suggestion to eliminate Mishaal in Amman, while Sheikh Ahmad Yassin is detained in an Israeli prison. Netanyahu's mistake was costly. King Hussein was infuriated. Time was short. Only Israel had the antidote that would save Mishaal, lying in hospital, due to the poison injected in his blood. Netanyahu had no other choice but to send the antidote and submit to the Jordanian King's demand of releasing Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. Why he insisted on Yassin's release; the answer lies in the late King's calculations.
The attempt did not eliminate Mishaal. He was in the spotlight and became a symbol. The role of the brilliant man widened, the man who formulates the radical stances of his movement with logical expressions that almost portray him as a moderate man. Rigid and flexible. A conversationalist who does not shut the door. He keeps his friendships alive, even with those he disagrees with. Before going into the details of the birth and story of Hamas, the justifications, repercussions and decision making process of the suicide operations, we asked him to tell us the story of his assassination attempt and how he left Jordan to Qatar.
* I think it is time to know the whole story of the attempt on your life. How did it happen?
- On the morning of September 25, 1997, I left home going to my office. My three young sons were with me on their way to the barbershop. The number of bodyguards (one or two) was small, as usual. We thought that assassinations do not happen in Jordan. At the time, our stress on security was limited. The incident happened when I stepped out of the car and before reaching my office. On our way to the office, I sat next to the driver who noticed a car was watching and following us ever since we left home until around half a kilometer away of my office. Usually, my bodyguard tells when such a thing happens. This time he did not. Before we reached the office, the car passed us. When we reached the building's entrance, Shamiyyeh Center, my car stopped in front of the shops. I noticed two people who looked like foreigners standing around two meters from the car. I was suspicious. They were wearing sunglasses and seemed like they seemed anxious, waiting for their prey. I hesitated before stepping out of the car. They looked strange. My driver concurred. I stepped out cautiously. Usually, I step out of my seat next to the driver and walk. Out of prudence, I walked around the back of the car and avoided the two men. When I reached the building entrance, the people I suspected attacked me. One of them pulled out a device, the size of a gun, which I found out later that it injects a toxic chemical substance that enters the skin's pores without injection. The device was pointed out to the left of my head and ear. My body shivered and I knew I was being subject to an assassination attempt; I was surprised. Usually, assassinations are carried out with bullets. The man using the device covered his hand with gauze in order to protect himself from the toxic substance that might touch him. It was said that the attackers were holding an injection with the antidote.
* What happened to you? What did the attackers do?
- I did not fall. The two men escaped. I was most probably treated with the substance the men were carrying with them. Some people said Netanyahu was under pressure to hand over the antidote. The perpetrators considered the operation a success because the poison entered my body. Mohamad Abu Seif, the bodyguard who was following me in another car, chased the perpetrators who did not notice his presence. They escaped in the rental car that was waiting for them 300 meters away near Al-Tharawat restaurant. They tried to block him and successfully got into the car. He did well by persisting in their pursuit: he stopped the first passing car. He asked the driver to help him chase another car due to a perilous incident. The man chased the car that entered residential areas and side streets. They saw both men rushing to step out of the car and walked toward the street of Al Madina Al Mounawara. They left all the tools of their crime in the car. It was said they were taken to the Israeli embassy situated in the Rabiyeh region near the Gardens Street. The Israeli embassy is only a kilometer away from the crime scene. The perpetrators headed to a place where another car was waiting for them. They did not guess my bodyguard followed them. He reached them and fought with them; they had no guns however, one of them had a sharp tool with which he cut Abu Seif deeply. People gathered around them and my bodyguard told them he was fighting with two Mossad agents who tried to kill Khaled Mishaal, Hamas' chairman of the political bureau. People besieged the perpetrators and restrained them. An officer in the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA) was nearby; he took booth men to a Jordanian security station in the region of Wadi Seir. At the station, Mohamad Abu Seif explained what happened to the security forces who arrested both men.
Meanwhile, we did not know what happened with Abu Seif. I went immediately to a secure place, called the political bureau and told them about the incident and its details. I did not go to my house and left my children with my secretary. I assured them that nothing happened to me. While I was talking, the bodyguard called the office and told us both Mossad agents were arrested. Hence, we knew what happened. Half an hour later, and after consultations with the political bureau, we published the news through Agence France Press (AFP). At 11 o'clock, Radio Monte Carlo broadcasted it as well. The contacts started with the Jordanian government through the director of the Jordanian intelligence.
In the beginning, the Jordanian government denied the news. It had no information about what happened. The Jordanian minister of information even said that it was a small problem between Khaled Mishaal's bodyguards and Canadian tourists. When the Mossad agents were in the police station, and after we insisted on the minister of information, officials said the incident was true. We knew later on that the official of the Mossad in Jordan called the Palace. It seems Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime minister, ordered this official to intervene in order to cover up the failure of the operation and to safeguard the two arrested agents in Jordan.
Two hours later, I started feeling the poison's symptoms. I was taken to the Islamic Hospital, while the Jordanian security forces were looking for me. People and the medical team gathered around me in the hospital's wing. The leadership of the political bureau, the leadership of the Islamic Labor Front and Amman's chief of police were there. When the news reached the Palace, King Hussein intervened, adopting a bold and courageous stance. He ordered my transfer to the Hussein Medical City. When I was losing balance and consciousness, it was discussed whether I should go, or not, to the medical city. My blood's oxygen level was dropping and the physicians did not know what was happening. Later, it was discovered that the toxic substance I was injected with inhibits the involuntary breathing centers in the brain. Humans breathe involuntarily during sleep. This poison stops this type of breathing and kills the human being.
In the Mossad's language, and security consultations under Netanyahu, it was said that they wanted a quiet operation; no bombs or shootings, to avoid embarrassing themselves with the Jordanians according to the Wadi Araba agreement signed in 1994. Due to its failure, the operation was tumultuous. I was transferred to the medical city on Thursday night. I lost consciousness from Thursday night until Saturday morning. During my unconsciousness, King Hussein was firm and bold. I appreciated his position and I wrote him later on during his sickness. He took a humane and courageous stance while the Jordanian government did not behave well in this regard. It was known later that King Hussein called the American President Bill Clinton and threatened to close the Israeli embassy. With Netanyahu's failure in this operation, and to contain its repercussions, the antidote was sent. Before that, the King brought his private physician from the Mayo Clinic who tested my blood and informed him of two possibilities: either to take a sample of my blood and test it in Jordan or in the Arab world where there is no way to uncover this substance, or to send the sample to the United States to pinpoint the type of poison. He stressed that the shortest way is to call the party that injected the toxic substance and ask for the antidote. When I was injected with the antidote, I regained consciousness after I was in a critical situation. I stayed in hospital for a week.
* What about Sheikh Ahmad Yassin's release?
- Of course, I was glad that the botched killing attempt was the reason for releasing Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. I was among those who visited him in his wing in King Hussein medical city. The failure of the attempt and the embarrassment of Israel drove Netanyahu's government to find an outlet to King Hussein's pressures and retrieve the Mossad agents. It was said that the Jordanian security forces arrested other agents and that the Israeli embassy was besieged. Israel releasing Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and a number of Palestinian prisoners was a way to cover up for the Mossad's failure.
* Who suggested releasing Sheikh Ahmad Yassin?
- The idea occurred during the negotiations between the Palace, in Amman, and the Israelis. I recall that King Hussein delivered a speech in Al-Zarqaa in which mentioned the assassination attempt. He pointed out the possibility of releasing Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. The King was in the medical city prior to my recovery. He visited me at 1:30 am. I asked him about Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. He told me he would be arriving that same night. From my room's window, at 2:00 am, I saw a helicopter; I did not know if it was Israeli or Jordanian. Then I saw Sheikh Ahmad Yassin on his wheelchair. Then, he was taken to one of the wings. Although I could not walk, I insisted at 3:00 am to meet him. I shook hands with him and kissed him. It was the first time I met him in my life. I already met some of the colleagues who were expelled to Marj Azzouhour in 1993 such as Abdulaziz Rantissi. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was in prison at that time.
Following the exchange, King Hussein, Prince Hassan, princes, a number of religious officials and Yasser Arafat were there when I was discharged from hospital. I met them, in the presence of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, and we thanked the King. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin stayed a week in Jordan until the exchange deal was done. A Jordanian airplane took him from the medical city to Gaza. An Israeli airplane received the Mossad agents. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin delivered a speech before he left. Pictures were taken, among them a picture of me with him, Dr. Moussa Abu Marzouq and Mohamad Nazzal.
* When was the last time you met Sheikh Ahmad Yassin?
- The last time I saw him was during his stop in Sudan in 1998. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was complaining from his ear. Through our contacts with Saudi Arabia, we suggested bringing him for treatment and Hajj (pilgrimage). The Saudi government deployed a great effort. We considered his exit from Gaza an opportunity to visit several countries. We organized for him a tour that included Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Tehran, Yemen, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, after which he went back to Gaza.
* Did the idea of residing abroad occur?
- No. It was unthinkable for him and us. Our intention is for all of us to be in Palestine. No one volunteers to exile and expel himself.
* Did the assassination attempt contribute for your rise in the ranks inside Hamas?
- No doubt, put the spotlight on me, and the movement in general. I was appearing more in the media. I consider that our situation inside Hamas is linked to the personal history of each of us, knowing each other, and our roles.
* Have you been subject to another assassination attempt?
- Not in a specific and direct manner. However, there were steps made in this direction, but we followed and dismantled them. We did not botch an attempt in the last minute. We had information about attempts to target me. Some of them implied pursuits in some Gulf countries. The attempt on my life was a lesson for us to review our security measures, especially after Hamas' role was enhanced in the Palestinian struggle and the expansion of the militant struggle between the movement and the Zionist entity. Israel kept on targeting us inside and outside, which led us to be very vigilant and step up security around the movement's leaders and cadres.
* In which capital do you sleep in peace?
- I sleep anywhere without worries or obsessions. As humans, our fate is to die. The one who follows a dangerous path must expect anything and be afraid of nothing. We believe in God. However, there are regions more secure than others. I have limited my choices between Doha and Damascus. I am settled in Doha and Damascus.
* There is something about Doha. A state that hosts Hamas leaders, runs Al-Jazeera, and hosts an American military base! What is this Qatari brilliance?
- (Laughs) Are you asking about Qatar or Hamas' brilliance? This question leads us to two issues; the first concerns our exile from Jordan in 1999. The second concerns our Arab relations. We have a philosophy in relations.
* Was your relation with King Hussein good after the assassination attempt?
- Yes. I met him two weeks after the attempt. I wrote him during his sickness. What is ironic is that the last letter I received from him was a day before he passed away.
* How were your relations (Hamas) with Qatar?
- The movement established a relation with Qatar ever since Prince Hamad bin Khalifa was the heir to the crown. A good relation developed with the people of Qatar. After he held the reins of power, the relation remained good. I had a personal relation with the Prince and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Hamad bin Jasem bin Jabr. Our relation with Qatar is not new. When Jordan closed the bureaus of the movement at the end of August, when I was on a visit to Iran, I called a number of Arab countries and told them closing the bureaus is an unjustified step and that we do not want to enter in confrontation with any Arab country. I called Sheikh Hamad and told him what happened. I asked him to deploy an effort to settle this situation. Three weeks later, we went back to Jordan and I was jailed in Jouweida prison with Ibrahim Ghosheh.
* What was the justification behind closing the movement's bureaus?
- Jordan wanted to end its relation with us. It was wrongly said that we carry weapons and perpetrate violations. We are Jordanian and committed no violation. The state prosecutor investigated us. After we were taken to jail, Qatar acted as a mediator. Jordan insisted on us leaving if we were released.
* Did you know you were heading to Qatar?
- No. No one consulted us. When we were released from jail on November 1, 1999, we were taken to Marka airport where we were surprised to see a plane was waiting for us. We were handcuffed and blindfolded. We were forced onto the plane that took us to Qatar. Ahmad Abdullah Al Mahmoud, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs was on board.
* Does this mean that Sheikh Hamad bin Jasem was responsible for the compromise?
- Yes. Jordan put us under a de facto situation. So we went to Doha. Al Mahmoud told us he was not at liberty to discuss our coming to Qatar with us.
* How long did you stay in Doha?
- We stayed for years in Doha. We tried, with the help of the Qataris, to resolve the issue with Jordan, but to no avail. This led to a crisis between Jordan and Qatar. Hence, we started moving between Doha and Damascus.
* When did you come to Damascus?
- I still go to Doha. Since around two years ago, I spend most of my time in Damascus.
* Did Sheikh Hamad bin Jasem try to mediate between you and President Yasser Arafat?
- At the beginning of the Intifada, the relation with President Arafat needed no mediation. I met Arafat in the Islamic Summit in Doha and stayed in contact with him over the phone. During the rounds of the Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue that preceded the truce declaration, Qatar deployed a significant effort. So did Egypt, which hosted the negotiations.
* Did Sheikh Hamad bin Jasem, who used to meet Shimon Perez, suggest to act as a mediator between Hamas and Israel in order to stop the operations?
- No, he did not. His meetings with Perez are known. Qatar bears the responsibility for its foreign policy. We do not expect someone to suggest such sort of mediation because Hamas' policy is clear. We are not ready to establish any kind of relation with the Zionist enemy. Qatari mediation was restricted to the Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue. Mahmoud Abbas has tight relations with Qatar, which hosted him in the past.
* Did Qatar offered aids to Hamas?
- No, like any other Arab government, Qatar does not offer us aids. The aids come from popular committees and charitable foundations. The Qatari TV might organize a day to support the Intifada and collect donations.
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