Long live reconciliation |
David Kirkpatrick
March 25, 2012AS IT prepares to take power in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is overhauling its relations with the two main Palestinian factions in an effort to put new pressure on Israel for an independent Palestinian state.
"نيويورك تايمز": الاخوان يضغطون على "حماس" لإتمام المصالحة.. والمرشد طلب من مشعل ان يكون اكثر اعتدالا
Officials of the Brotherhood, Egypt's dominant Islamist movement, are pressing its militant Palestinian offshoot, Hamas, which controls Gaza, to make new compromises with Fatah, the Western-backed Palestinian leadership that has committed to peace with Israel and runs the West Bank.
The intervention in the Palestinian issue is the clearest indication yet that as it moves into a position of authority, the Brotherhood, the largest vote-getter in Egypt's parliamentary elections, intends to both moderate its positions on foreign policy and reconfigure Egypt's.
Brotherhood officials say that they are pulling back from their previous embrace of Hamas and its commitment to armed struggle against Israel in order to open new channels of communications with Fatah, which the Brotherhood had previously denounced for collaborating with Israel and selling out the Palestinian cause. Brotherhood leaders argue that if they persuade the Palestinians to work together with a newly assertive Egypt, they will have far more success forcing Israel to bargain in earnest over the terms of statehood.
The shift in the Brotherhood's stance toward neutrality between Hamas and Fatah - acknowledged by officials of both groups - may relieve US policymakers, who have long worried about the Brotherhood's relationship with the more militant Hamas.
The US considers the militant Palestinian group to be a terrorist organisation. But the shift in Egypt's policies may unnerve Israel, because it is a move away from the former president Hosni Mubarak's exclusive support for the Western-backed Fatah movement and its commitment to the peace process. Israeli officials have said they will not negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas.
But Reda Fahmy, a Brotherhood leader who oversees its Palestinian relations and is now chairman of the Arab affairs committee in Egypt's upper house of Parliament, believes that Palestinian unity could break the deadlock in talks with Israel.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas leader, said he favoured more conciliations with Fatah.
''Reaching reconciliation is in the best interest of the Palestinian people,'' he said.
Fatah officials, for their part, say that so far they have been pleased with the Brotherhood's neutral approach to both factions.
The New York Times
Hamas reveals documents on conspiracy by PA, Fatah against Gaza
[ 24/03/2012 - 04:18 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement said it has documents and minutes of meetings proving the involvement of the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority with the Mossad, the US intelligence, and Arab parties in the fuel and power crisis of the Gaza Strip.
In a rally organized on Friday against the fuel conspiracy, member of Hamas's political bureau Khalil Hayya pledged to expose the frame-up against his Movement and reveal in time all documents in this regard.
Hayya emphasized that this conspiracy is aimed at making the Palestinian masses forget the heroic steadfastness demonstrated by Hamas during the Israeli war on Gaza and its achievement of the successful prisoner swap deal, Wafa Al-Ahrar.
The Arabic section of the Palestinian information center (PIC) published on Friday two documents issued by Fatah related to this conspiracy. Other documents will be posted later when disclosed by Hamas.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
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