CNN interviews Hamas Leader

Hamas is now ruling in Gaza strip after a showdown with Fatah,the Palestinian political party which runs the West Bank. Hamas' leader, Khaled Meshaal lives in hiding in Damascus, Syria. CNN correspondents interviewed him in his secret hideout .

Meshaal is a complicated, calculating man. To his people, he is seen as a humanitarian and as the leader of Hamas. To Israel, the United States and a list of other nations, he is seen as a terrorist.

Next month will mark the 10-year anniversary of an assassination attempt on Meshaal's life by the Israeli intelligence organization Mossad.

While Meshaal was living in Jordan in 1997, Mossad agents breached the building in which he was sleeping. They injected poison into his ear. The Jordanian authorities quickly discovered what had happened and through pressure from both the Jordanian king and some U.S. officials, Israel eventually provided Meshaal with the antidote he needed to survive.

"I am 51 years old, and the past 10 years have been a gift from above," he told CNN.