Hamas denies group leadership leaving Damascus

'Al Hayat' says Qatar agreed to host Mashaal; official refutes report that Hamas received request from Syria to leave the country.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal 311 Reu (photo credit: Khaled Al Hariri / Reuters)
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal 311 Reu
(photo credit: Khaled Al Hariri / Reuters)
no plans to move its headquarters from Damascus to Qatar because of the unrest in Syria.
“Hamas is continuing to carry out its work in Damascus,” said Izat Risheq, a member of the Hamas political bureau. “There is no change on our status in Syria.”
RELATED: Haniyeh calls on Fatah to renounce recognition of Israel
The London-based pan Arab daily Al-Hayat reported that Syria asked Hamas to leave the country and that Qatar only agreed to receive the movement’s political leadership The report claimed that Egypt and Jordan refused to receive the Hamas leadership.
The paper said that the decision to ask Hamas to leave Syria came in response to the movement’s support for the popular uprising in that country.
Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel also denied the newspaper report, stressing that his movement did not receive any request from Syria to leave.
Bardaweel said that Hamas had nothing to do with the unrest in Syria. “This is an internal affair,” he said. “Hamas does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country, just as it does not like others to meddle in its affairs.”