Jennifer Bryson
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2001

Muslim Brotherhood, a very influential fundamentalist movement in Egypt, issued the statement Thursday.

Although the statement links the conflicts in Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, it focuses on the Palestinians.

In the statement, Muslim Brotherhood asserts that Muslims in Palestine and Afghanistan "are being slaughtered amid total international silence, obvious American isolation, and shameful Arab and Muslim weakness."

The group calls for Arab and Muslim peoples "to be attentive to the slaughter in Palestine, and likewise in Afghanistan."

The statement says that the world that "revolted" against the destruction of the Afghan statues, i.e. in Bamiyan, "is today silent, as silent as a tomb, about the killing of hundreds of civilians there and the destruction of cities, villages, refugee camps, and hospitals."

The statement asserts that all this is happening, "under the slogan of 'the war against terrorism' for which no one has put forth a clear, agreed-upon definition yet to date."

Muslim Brotherhood further criticizes, "Likewise no one has set forth any evidence for involvement of [any] individual or group in the events of 9/11, which everyone condemns."

According to the statement, "the Palestinian and Afghan people are today in urgent need of the help of the Muslim community and the peoples of all the world to assist them" in the face of "the Satanic war and to help of millions of refugees with food, clothing, and medications."

In the view of Muslim Brotherhood, "if the governments of Arab and Islamic countries announce that the movements of Palestinian resistance" should be classified under the heading "terrorist" then Muslims should "add action to their words."

The statement specified that such "action" should include assisting the Palestinian people with "weapons, financing, food and medications until they are able to liberate their country, their land, and establish a state" and it added that this action should include "cutting [diplomatic] relations and expelling the ambassadors of the countries which recognize the 'Zionist Entity'" [i.e. Israel].

The statement is a reminder that many Muslims and Arabs do not believe that the U.S. has evidence indicating who carried out of the attacks on Sept. 11.

Although Muslim Brotherhood is just one of several Muslim fundamentalist movements in Egypt, it is important not only because of its size, but because it has in recent years shown some signs of relative political pragmatism and some willingness to pursue its agenda within the framework of political structures.

If, however, the group were to foster intense popular opposition to any Egyptian cooperation with the international coalition fighting terrorism, this would not bode well for the stability of the regime of Egyptian President Mubarak.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Middle East

War on Terrorism

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