* Ismail Haniyeh - Haniyeh, 50, held the No. 1 spot on Hamas' national list of parliamentary candidates. A resident of the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Haniyeh also heads Hamas' student movement at the Islamic University in Gaza. He had served as bureau chief for Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas' founder. Haniyeh is seen as the leading pragmatist among the Hamas leadership in the territories, and served for long periods as the liaison between the movement and entities in the West.
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* Dr. Mahmoud Zahar - A surgeon by profession, Zahar, 55, is a lecturer in medicine at the Islamic University in Gaza. For most of the 1990s, he served as Hamas' chief spokesman in the Gaza Strip. Zahar was among the group of Hamas members who were deported to Lebanon in 1992. He held the No. 9 spot on Hamas' national list for the elections. He has been the target of two Israeli assassination attempts, with the second strike resulting in the death of his eldest son when his home was bombed. Until recently, he was considered Hamas most senior official in the Strip.
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* Mohammed Abu Tir - No. 2 on Hamas' national list of parliamentary candidates, Abu Tir, 55, is a resident of the village of Umm Tuba in southeast Jerusalem. Originally a Fatah activist, Abu Tir joined Hamas upon its establishment. He was released from an Israeli jail six months ago after having served 22 years for possessing arms and providing assistance to Hamas cells in the West Bank.
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* Hassan Yousef - Yousef, 50, is a resident of the town of Bituniya, near Ramallah, and headed Hamas' list in the region. Yousef was among the Hamas members deported to Lebanon in 1992. In Israeli custody for the past two months due to his activities with the movement, Yousef played a major role in Hamas' entry into politics. He is believed to have close ties with Fatah leaders, for which he has been criticized by Hamas.
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* Na'af Rajoub - Rajoub, 47, is the brother of Jibril Rajoub, former head of the Palestinian preventative security mechanism. Rajoub is a resident of Dura in the southern Hebron Hills, and headed the movement's list in the region. He was among the Hamas deportees of 1992.
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