Kill Khalid: Mossad’s failed hit … and the rise of Hamas

September 1997: In an Amman street in broad daylight five menclaiming to be Canadian tourists accost a Palestinian and inject a mysterious chemical into his ear. Within 48 hours it should kill him, leaving no trace. The perfect political assassination.

In fact, the assailants were Mossad agents and their target was Khalid Mishal, at that time head of Hamas’s political bureau in Jordan. But after 48 hours Mishal was not dead. Instead, the prime minister of Israel, the president of the United States and the king of Jordan were locked in intense negotiations to save his life.

Kill Khalidunveils one of the most bizarre assassination attempts in the last quarter century and ultimately follows its participants as they grapple with the unforeseen outcome of this drama. In a headlong narrative - with high-speed car chases, negotiated prisoner exchanges, and an international scandal that threatened to destabilise the entire region - acclaimed reporter Paul McGeough uses unprecedented extensive interviews with Khalid Mishal himself and the key players in Amman, Jerusalem and Washington, to tell the definitive, inside story of the rise of Hamas, in whose hands the future of the Israel-Palestine conflict now firmly rests.

‘This is that rare and most exciting of books - a serious political history that reads like a fast-paced thriller. The cast includes presidents, politicians, spies, diplomats and murderers who play out their destinies against a background of conspiracy and intrigue.’ - Phillip Knightley