Hamas appoints its first spokeswoman

The Hamas government of the Gaza Strip on November 10, 2013 has for the first time appointed a woman, Isra Almodallal, to represent it to the world. Almodallal has assumed a post normally be responsible for the Gaza government's communications with the international media. Unlike the most precedents of the position, she does not have her roots in the Hamas movement. The hiring of Almodallal as a spokeswoman for the territory's conservative Islamist rulers is part of a long-running push by the group, which has at times sought to curb women's freedoms, to present a newer friendlier face both to its own citizens and internationally. The change in policy began six months ago when a new head of the government media department, Ihab Ghussein, took over. He hired younger media people, started a new official government website, began rampant use of social media and started conducting seminars and workshops. Ghussein said he appointed Almodallal in an effort "to be more open to the West". The 23-year-old Almodallal is a divorced mother of a four-year-old girl. Hamas: Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist organization, with an associated military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, located in the Palestinian territories. Since June 2007 Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip, after it won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament in the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections and then defeated the Fatah political organization in a series of violent clashes. Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Japan classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, while Iran, Russia, Turkey and Arab nations do not. Based on the principles of Islamic fundamentalism gaining momentum throughout the Arab world in the 1980s, Hamas was founded in 1987 (during the First Intifada) as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Co-founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin stated in 1987 and the founder Hamas Charter affirmed in 1988 that Hamas was founded to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation and to establish an Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. In July 2009, Khaled Meshal, Hamas's political bureau chief, said the organization was willing to cooperate with "a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict which included a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders", provided that Palestinian refugees hold the right to return to Israel and that East Jerusalem be the new nation's capital. Gaza Strip: The Gaza Strip is a self-governing entity on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea that borders Egypt on the southwest (11 km) and Israel on the east and north (51 km (32 mi)). From 2007, the Gaza Strip is de-facto governed by Hamas, a Palestinian faction claiming to be the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian People. From 2012, Gaza Strip is recognized by the UN as part of the State of Palestine and is claimed by the Palestinian government in Ramallah. The Palestinian population of Gaza Strip is predominantly Sunni Muslim. With a yearly growth rate of about 3.2%, the Gaza Strip has the 6th highest population growth rate in the world. It is 41 kilometres (25 mi) long, and from 6 to 12 kilometres (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide, with a total area of 365 square kilometres (141 sq mi). The population of Gaza Strip is about 1.7 million people.

What: Hamas appoints its first spokeswoman When: November 10, 2013 Who: Isra Almodallal, First spokeswoman of Hamas Where: Gaza Strip Why: to present a newer friendlier face both to its own citizens and internationally