Last week’s re-election of Khalid Mesha’al as head of the politburo of Hamas for a new term has ended months of political wrangling between the Islamist movement’s moderate and hardline factions.

Mesha’al’s triumph came after pressure was exerted on the movement — which has been in control in the Gaza Strip since 2007 — by Egypt and Qatar, two countries with which Hamas has special relations. His reelection is seen as a victory for the moderate flank inside the movement, which supports Palestinian reconciliation and a political resolution to the conflict with Israel.

Two senior Hamas members, Mahmoud Al Zahhar and Ezzat Al Rishq, were not reelected, while Esmail Haniyeh and Mousa Abu Marzouq were voted in as Mesha’al’s deputies. Haniyeh headed the former Palestinian government, which was led by Hamas, until it was fired by President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. The Al Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, is reported to be against Mesha’al’s election and is angry at the exclusion of Al Zahhar. News reports said Al Zahhar has led a campaign to elect a new leader for Hamas from inside the Gaza Strip. A US-based news website, Watan, quoted sources as saying that Al Zahhar and Al Qassam Brigades are weary of Mesha’al’s stance on two key issues — reconciliation with Fatah and acceptance of a deal to establish a Palestinian state along 1967 borders.

Mesha’al, 56, is perceived as a charismatic leader by Palestinians inside and outside the Occupied Territories. And despite his close ties with Iran and Syria, until last year, he was able to maintain contacts with moderate states such as Jordan and Qatar. A Jordanian national, he was deported from Jordan more than 13 years ago to Qatar. However, in 2003, he relocated the political bureau of the movement to Damascus, which headed the so-called rejectionist front, comprising Palestinian factions who were against the Oslo Accords.

Still, Mesha’al is seen by many as a pragmatist. While he insists that Hamas will never abandon the right to armed resistance, he has also hinted, on more than one occasion, his willingness to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. On his historic visit to Gaza last year — which Israel allowed — he reaffirmed the movement’s official position on “the liberation of historic Palestine from the river to the sea”. But those close to Mesha’al believe that he is thinking along the same lines as of the late Hamas founder, Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, who, in 1997, had offered a 30-year truce with Israel in exchange for withdrawal from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

In all cases, Mesha’al’s reelection was welcomed by Fatah. A spokesperson for the movement in Ramallah, Qadourah Fares, says Mesha’al is a distinguished Palestinian leader who has been criticised for his efforts to conclude Palestinian reconciliation. Mesha’al’s pivot to the moderate camp was emphasised last year when he criticised the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad for its reaction to the peaceful uprising. As a result, he left Syria and welcomed the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt.

The election of President Mohammad Mursi as President of Egypt last June was a strategic gain for Hamas, which was not on good terms with former president Hosni Mubarak. Mesha’al and senior Hamas leaders became regular visitors to Cairo, which now mediated, along with Qatar, for an end to the Palestinian rift. However, Hamas, a close ideological relative of the Muslim Brotherhood, had alienated itself from the rest of Egypt’s revolutionary parties and movements. As a result, Mursi’s close ties to the movement in Gaza became a liability, especially after the terrorist attack in Sinai last July, which killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. While the culprits were never found, it was believed that the attackers had used the elaborate underground tunnel system between Gaza and Sinai to escape.

Today, Egypt is carrying out an extensive operation to shut down these tunnels, but its ties with Hamas remain close. When war erupted between Hamas and Israel last year, both Mursi and Mesha’al were instrumental in hammering out a truce that has held until today.

Mesha’al’s reelection comes at a crucial time as well. In the Arab Summit in Doha last month, Qatar suggested the holding of a mini-summit in Cairo to implement Palestinian reconciliation. Under Mesha’al, chances of success for such a meeting will be bigger. It is no secret that Mesha’al is looking for a role for Hamas, and himself, that goes beyond Gaza. He wants to reform, and possibly head, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and is looking for a bigger part to play in the West Bank in the future. He realises that Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is old and weak and that Fatah is increasingly divided.

This is something that both Egypt and Qatar are willing to back. News reports said that immediately after the Shura elections, the head of Egypt’s intelligence service, Raafat Shihata, met Mesha’al and his deputies to discuss a number of issues, including reconciliation, Palestinian prisoners and the truce with Israel. Other reports said that Shihata had attended the election sessions and pushed for Mesha’al’s reelection.

Few months ago, Mesha’al wanted to withdraw from public service, but now he is back at the helm of Hamas. The rise of the moderate wing of Hamas at this juncture is an important development that points to crucial changes within the movement. Certainly, Mesha’al will push to conclude Palestinian reconciliation, to which he is committed. His close ties to Qatar will be instrumental in reshaping the political positions of Hamas, especially on a peaceful settlement with Israel. Most importantly, his leadership can change Israeli and western perception of the armed movement. The risk though is that if Mesha’al moves too quickly to redirect the movement’s course, he can end up dividing it. The hardliners within Hamas may have lost this round, but they remain a force to be reckoned with.