BIO-DATA ON RUMORED NEW PALESTINIAN PM

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 000607 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MUSTAFA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KWBG PGOV PINS PTER KPAL IS SUBJECT: BIO-DATA ON RUMORED NEW PALESTINIAN PM ¶1. (U) Press reporting of the HAMAS meetings with Egyptian officials in Cairo suggested that HAMAS may nominate Jamal al-Khudari as Prime Minister designate. Jamal al-Khudari is a prominent businessman and independently elected PLC member from the Gaza City district. While al-Khudari ran as an independent and did not run on the HAMAS list, he appeared frequently at HAMAS campaign rallies and was publicly endorsed by the HAMAS leadership. His public affiliation with the movement goes back to the early 1990s. Al-Khudari holds a degree in electrical engineering from an Egyptian university. He has served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Islamic University in Gaza since 1990 and is a former member of the PALTRADE Board of directors. He comes from a prominent and respected family in Gaza. ConGen contacts that have met al-Khudari describe him as outgoing, ambitious, highly organized and perceptive. ¶2. (U) Al-Khudari denied reports that HAMAS offered him the Prime Minister position in statements to the press on February 8, but said that if offered he would accept the position or any other ministerial post. Al-Khudari told the Egyptian newspaper al-Hayah that if appointed as Prime minister, he would seek to form a pragmatic, technocratic and politically inclusive government with ministers from outside the PLC. WALLES