In January, Khaled Mashal, the leader of Hamas’s Damascus-based political bureau, embarked on a diplomatic initiative of his own, and was hosted by King Abdullah of Jordan – the first such visit in more than a decade. In February, Mashal crowned these efforts in Qatar with the signing of the new unity agreement with Fatah, which commits both Palestinian movements to a transitional government under Abbas’s leadership.
但这一政治橄榄枝并不仅仅是由加沙递出。在一月，哈马斯驻叙利亚大马士革流亡分支机构领导人哈利德·玛沙尔（Khaled Mashal）动身启动外交访问，并受到了约旦国王阿卜杜拉的接待——这还是10多年以来的头一次，并促成了哈马斯和法塔赫二月在约旦签署的新团结协定，希望将两股巴勒斯坦运动团结在由阿巴斯领导的过渡政府之下。