Egyptian movement seeks to reverse peace deal with Israel
Grassroots movement Tamarod (rebellion), which facilitated Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, spearheads initiative to reject U.S. aid, sever ties with Israel • Muslim Brotherhood floats new accusation: Defense Minister Sissi is actually a Jew, servant of Zionists.
Israel Hayom
After the Muslim Brotherhood made
sure not to overturn Egypt’s peace deal with Israel during their term
in power, it is now a liberal group that has begun collecting signatures
in efforts to rescind the agreement.
The phenomenon may have been
dismissed as minor if it were not spearheaded by the Tamarod (rebellion)
movement — a grassroots movement to register opposition to now-deposed
president Mohammed Morsi and force him to call early elections. The
movement helped launch the July 2013 protests in Egypt, preceding the
consequent military coup that saw Morsi deposed and imprisoned.
The demand to sever ties with
Israel is part of a wider campaign seeking to end dependence on U.S.
aid, in light of recent sanctions imposed by Washington on the Egyptian
army.
Tamarod is calling for a reversal
of the 1979 peace agreement with the “Israeli entity, which is binding
the hands of Egypt’s security forces in Sinai.” They wish to reformulate
the security agreements with Israel in a way that will “ensure Egypt’s
right to secure its borders.” According to the organizers of the Tamarod
petition, the movement has so far collected more than 300,000
signatures.
Israel is closely monitoring the
initiative. According to one official, “the fact that there are groups
in Egypt trying to promote the issue, specifically now, and that they
are calling themselves ‘liberals’, suggests, more than anything, that
their priorities are out of order and bizarre. Even if there is a public
demand, the Egyptian leaders, regardless of their affiliation, are well
aware of the interests that would best serve the Egyptian people.”
On Friday, the Israeli cabinet convened for a briefing on the topic.
Meanwhile, as Egypt’s interim
government considered reinstating a law outlawing the Muslim
Brotherhood, reports surfaced that at least 250 Brotherhood members had
been arrested. In response, the Brotherhood floated a new theory:
“Everyone should know that [Defense Minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah]
el-Sissi is actually a Jew,” activists said in Cairo. “His mother was a
Jew who came from Morocco.”
“Sissi and [Interim] President Adly Mansour serve the Zionists and want to turn Egypt into Syria,” said activist Tariq Aziz.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei also came out in support of the initiative, saying on Saturday
that “Israel and the U.S. are responsible for sowing chaos in Egypt.”
Report: Israel is coordinating with General Sissi
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has instructed Israeli ministers and top government officials not to
comment on the ongoing turmoil in Egypt, Army Radio reported Sunday; but
foreign media outlets reported over the weekend that Israel was
maintaining close ties Sissi. Western diplomats quoted by the New York
Times said that Israel had promised Sissi that the U.S. would not cut
off aid to his country.
“General Sissi and his circle
appeared to be in heavy communication with Israeli colleagues, and the
diplomats believed the Israelis were also undercutting the Western
message by reassuring the Egyptians not to worry about American threats
to cut off aid,” the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Jerusalem did not issue an official response to the report.
Egypt remains on edge as death toll climbs
Egypt remained on edge Sunday
after security forces stormed a Cairo mosque a day earlier and the
ousted president’s Muslim Brotherhood remained poised to hold further
street protests despite a possible outlawing of the group.
At one point, troops exchanged
gunfire with men shooting from a minaret of the al-Fath mosque on Ramses
Square, where hundreds of Morsi supporters had fled overnight after
violent clashes killed 173 people.
The evacuation was prompted by
fears that the Brotherhood again planned to set up a sit-in, security
officials said, similar to those that were broken up Wednesday in
assaults that killed hundreds of people.
Simultaneously, police arrested
the brother of al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri, who officials said
planned to bring in armed groups to provide support to those holed up
inside the mosque.
Al-Zawahri, a Morsi ally, is the
leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafi group which espouses
al-Qaida’s hard-line ideology. He was detained at a checkpoint in Giza,
the city across the Nile from Cairo, the official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to brief journalists about the arrest.
The Egyptian government meanwhile
announced it had begun deliberations on whether to ban the Brotherhood,
a long-outlawed organization that swept to power in the country’s first
democratic elections a year ago.
Such a ban — which authorities
say is rooted in the group’s use of violence — would be a repeat to the
decades-long power struggle between the state and the Brotherhood.
For more than a month since the
July 3 military overthrow of Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood members and
supporters have attacked and torched scores of police stations and
churches in retaliation. Shops and houses of Christians have also been
targeted.
Such attacks spurred widespread
public anger against the Brotherhood, giving the military-backed
government popular backing to step up its campaign against the Islamist
group. It reminded people of a decade-long Islamist insurgency against
Mubarak’s rule in the 1990s, which only strengthened security agencies
and ended with thousands of Islamic fundamentalists in prisons.
The unrest in Egypt has raised
international concerns over the country’s stability and prompted U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to condemn in a statement on Saturday both
“violent protests” in reference to Brotherhood’s rallies and the
authorities’ “excessive use of force.”
Former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter expressed deep concern over the violence, saying it is “rapidly
eroding the chances for dialogue and a road to reconciliation.” Carter
added that he is “especially concerned that Egyptians are arming
themselves and engaging in inter-communal violence.”
On Wednesday, riot police,
military helicopters, snipers and bulldozers broke up two sit-in
protests in Cairo by Morsi’s supporters, leaving more than 600 people
dead and thousands injured. That sparked days of violence that killed
173 people and injured 1,330 people on Friday alone, when the
Brotherhood called for protests during a “Day of Rage,” cabinet
spokesman Sherif Shawki said.
Among those who died Friday was
Ammar Badie, a son of the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader Mohammed Badie,
the group’s political arm said in a statement.
Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem
el-Beblawi, who leads the military-backed government, later told
journalists that authorities had no choice but to use force in the wake
of recent violence.
The Muslim Brotherhood, founded
in 1928, came to power a year ago when Morsi was elected in the
country’s first free presidential elections. The election came after the
overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising in 2011.
The fundamentalist group has been
banned for most of its 85-year history and repeatedly subjected to
crackdowns under Mubarak’s rule. While sometimes tolerated with its
leaders allowed to be part of the political process, members regularly
faced long bouts of imprisonment and arbitrary detentions.
Disbanding the group, experts
say, would mean allowing security forces to have a zero-tolerance policy
in dealing with its street protests, as well as going after its funding
sources. That could be a serious blow to the Brotherhood, though it
likely wouldn’t mean an end to a group that existed underground for
decades.
The possible banning comes amid calls by pro-military political forces to brand the Brotherhood a “terrorist organization.”
“We are calling for declaring the
Brotherhood as a terrorist group,” said Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, one of the
leaders of the Tamarod movement.
The military-backed government
has declared a state of emergency and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew
since Wednesday, empowering army troops to act as a law enforcement
force. Top Brotherhood leaders, including Morsi, remain held on a
variety of charges, including inciting violence.
Since Morsi was deposed in the
popularly backed military coup, the Brotherhood has stepped up its
confrontation with the new leadership, rallying thousands of supporters
in sit-ins and vowing not to leave until Morsi is reinstated.
After security forces broke up
the protest camps, Islamist supporters stormed and torched churches and
police stations. In response, the interim government authorized Egypt’s
security forces to use deadly force against those attacking vital
government institutions.
On Saturday, Egypt’s Interior
Ministry said in a statement that a total of 1,004 Brotherhood members
had been detained in raids across the country and that weapons, bombs
and ammunition were confiscated from the detainees.
Several foreigners were also rounded up including Sudanese, Pakistanis and Syrians, the Interior Ministry said.
Morsi himself has been held
incommunicado since his ouster. Top Brotherhood leaders including
General Guide Deputy Khairat el-Shater were detained last month.
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