Hamas Comes Out of Hiding

[groovedaddy]

JUST a year and a half ago, visiting Khalid Mishal, the supreme leader of Hamas, was a cloak-and-dagger affair. In September 2007, I climbed into the back of a curtained Mercedes to make the dash from central Damascus to the southern suburbs, where the Palestinian group operated from a high-security enclave reserved for senior officials of the Syrian government.

On reaching Mr. Mishal’s security-camera-covered bunker, I was ordered to remain in the car, alighting only after the house guards had drawn heavy curtains to envelop the vehicle entirely — ensuring an anonymous arrival at the headquarters of a movement that had good reason to fear prying eyes.

As I was subjected to a thorough physical search, one of Mr. Mishal’s aides told me that there was a battery of antiaircraft guns buried deep in a nearby hillside. All my possessions were confiscated, and I gained access to Mr. Mishal’s grand reception room through an airport-style security scanner.

Today the mood has become much lighter in the Hamas hideout. Mr. Mishal’s calendar is so full that he might soon need a parking lot for the vehicles bringing foreign delegations to visit. My most recent appointment with him, on March 18, was pushed far into the night because Mr. Mishal was busy greeting a group of Greek lawmakers, who were then followed by an Italian delegation. In the preceding days, visitors had come from the British and European Parliaments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/opinion/13mcgeough.html?th&emc=th