CAIRO, June 21 (UPI) -- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood lawmakers refuse to blame the Palestinian Hamas group for taking over the Gaza Strip.
They would not sign a statement issued by the Arab Affairs Committee in the National Assembly that described Hamas as a "rogue movement that carried out a bloody coup d'etat against the legitimate Palestinian Authority" in the Strip.
The Parliament committee, dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party, said in the statement that "some in Hamas looking for power and personal glory forgot the essence of the Palestinian cause and the difficult challenges it faces, not distinguishing between enemy and friend."
However, the Muslim Brotherhood bloc, the largest opposition group in the Legislature, blasted the statement as "totally biased in favor of the rogue group from Fatah" and urged Egyptian institutions against taking sides because it "threatens the Palestinian cause."
The Islamists also criticized Cairo's decision to move its embassy from Gaza to Ramallah in the West Bank, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed an emergency government led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad after dissolving the government in Gaza last week.
The Brotherhood's refusal to blame Hamas comes as no surprise because Hamas emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which originated in Egypt and spread to the rest of the Arab world.
