Hamas should disengage from 'terrorist' Muslim Brotherhood: Fatah
Fatah calls on rival Hamas to distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood,
branded terrorists by Egypt, for the sake of the Palestinian cause
Ahram Online , Thursday 26 Dec 2013
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/90073/World/Region/Hamas-should-disengage-from-terrorist-Muslim-Broth.aspx

The Palestinian Fatah movement has called on Hamas to disengage from the
Muslim Brotherhood to protect the Palestinian people from "atrocities,"
Egypt's state-run news agency MENA reported Thursday.

The statement comes a day after the decision of Egypt's interim government
to officially declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.

Ahmed Assaf, the spokesman for Fatah, said in a statement that the
continuation of Hamas's "subordination" to the international Muslim
Brotherhood organisation will put millions of Palestinians -- especially
those in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip -- in confrontation with several Arab
states, including Egypt.

"This will lead to dangerous security and economic situation that will
threaten the future and lives of the people there [in Gaza]," Assaf said.

Assaf called on Hamas, an ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, to
prioritise the interests of the Palestinians over other "partisan interests
and foreign connections."

The Fatah leader said his movement, Hamas's main Palestinian rival, is
confident of Egypt's awareness of the fact that Hamas forcefully controls
Gaza, and represents a "small part" of the Palestinians living in the Gaza
Strip.

"Most Palestinians are loyal only to their identity, culture and nation,"
Assaf concluded.

Egypt and Hamas: Tense relations

The relationship between Egypt and Hamas has become tense following the
ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in July, who hailed from the
Muslim Brotherhood.

Since Morsi's ouster, the Islamist president has been charged with a number
of crimes, including involvement with Hamas at the time of the Egyptian
revolution.

Morsi, members of Hamas, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Lebanon's Hezbollah
movement are accused of storming prisons and the attempted murder of police
officers on 28 January 2011.

The day saw mass protests in cities around Egypt against the rule of
then-president Hosni Mubarak.

Titled "The Most Dangerous Terrorism Crime the Country Has Ever Seen," a
statement issued by investigative judge Hassan Samir on 21 December accused
the defendants of the attempted murder and kidnapping of three police
personnel, and of detaining them in the Gaza Strip, along with other charges
including possessing heavy weapons, committing aggressive acts, vandalising
government facilities and looting "livestock, poultry and weapons" from
prison warehouses.

The statement also accused the international Muslim Brotherhood organisation
of concocting a "terrorist plan" in collaboration with Hamas and Hezbollah
"to give up part of the Sinai Peninsula for the resettlement of Palestinians
from Gaza."

On 18 December, prosecutors released new charges against the ousted
president, of "collaborating with foreign organisations to commit terrorist
acts in Egypt and revealing defence secrets to a foreign country," also
naming Hamas and Hezbollah and running between the period 2005 to 2013.

Since Morsi's ouster, the Egyptian armed forces have launched a large-scale
operation against militant groups who had stepped up their attacks against
security forces in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

Cairo has repeatedly accused Hamas of interfering in its internal affairs to
support Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood and launching joint attacks with
hard-line Islamists in Sinai, a position that was repeatedly denied by Hamas
leaders.

Egypt, however, has warned of a military response if Hamas or any other
Palestinian group tries to violate Egyptian security, Reuters reported in
September.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy told the London-based newspaper
Al-Hayat there was "tension" in relationship with Hamas. He suggested Hamas
was not helping enough to secure the border.

"If Hamas proves through actions and not words -- and unfortunately there
are many negative indicators -- its good intentions, then it will find an
Egyptian party that ... protects the Palestinian side," Fahmy said.

In the post-Morsi period, Egyptian authorities have only intermittently
opened the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing is the only
official gateway for the 1.7 million Gazans who live in the enclave, which
is being blockaded by Israel.

Egypt has allowed only authorised travellers such as foreign nationals, visa
holders, and patients seeking medical treatment, to cross.

Bassein Naim, advisor to Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh, revealed communication
between the Islamist government and Egypt's interim cabinet mainly through
the General Intelligence Apparatus, MENA reported in November.

"These communications had positive implications; chief among them is the
opening of the Rafah border crossing every now and then," Naim said in a
press statement, adding that he wished for an improvement in "the
circumstances, the means and the results of communication."

Naim further expressed his hope for a complete and undisrupted opening of
the crossing, given that its closure has negatively impacted "everyone and
everything in Gaza."

On Tuesday, Hamas denied involvement in bomb attack in the northern Egyptian
city of Mansoura that killed 15 and injured 134 when a large explosion hit
the city's security directorate, causing widespread damage to buildings in
the vicinity including the city's council building, a state-owned theatre
and a bank.

The Palestinian Islamist movement's spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said in a
statement that the group had no link to this attack or any other in Egypt,
and that Hamas condemns such accusation.