Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood reignited Israeli fears of a rupture of its peace accord with the Islamist country Tuesday, after newly-appointed Information Minister Salakh Abd al-Maksud claimed Egyptians relations with Israel would not be upgraded “until occupied Palestinian land is freed”.
Speaking from a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a summit of Muslim leaders taking place over consecutive nights due to the Muslim holy fast of Ramadan, he stressed that whilst Egypt would continue to respect its 1979 peace accord with the Jewish State in accordance with President Mohammed Morsi’s wishes, Israel “stole Palestinian lands and for this reason we will not normalise relations with it until those lands are freed”.
The conference of OIC foreign ministers hosted by Saudi Arabia, itself a key backer of Syrian opposition forces, voted to suspend the authoritarian country’s membership from the institution in light of the regime’s sustained 17 months of violence against Syrian civilians, despite the motion being opposed by Iran.
Calling for a regime change in Syria, Morsi called for unity amongst Arab States, stressing the need for leading members Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran to work together to solve the ongoing crisis and condemning the international community for allowing “blood to have been spilled during the holy month of Ramadan”.
However, he backed the commitment of his minister and fellow Muslim Brotherhood member in insisting the Palestinian issue remains of the most urgent concern in the Muslim world.
Addressing the media after the conference, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu rejected calls for military intervention in Syria, claiming he “did not see much support” for such measures, but nevertheless insisted the decision to expel Syria from the organisation served a “a message to the international community...that the Islamic community stands with a politically peaceful solution and does not want any more bloodshed”.
The conference had been widely viewed as a battle between staunch rivals Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran, however, Saudi King Abdullah attempted to assuage such concerns of divisions in the membership by opening the summit with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at his side. Despite the efforts at presenting a united front, the controversial Iranian leader appeared to dismiss the gesture, with Iran’s Mehr news agency reporting an alleged rebuke of the Saudi host’s position on the Syrian issue Wednesday.
Calling for a clearly-defined plan of action to bring an end to the protracted conflict, Ahmadinejad reportedly said: “unfortunately some of our brothers and friends have not acted well in this area and instead of inviting the conflicting parties for talks and understanding, they are busy sending weapons into the country and encouraging slaughter”.
Close Syrian ally Iran has backed Syria’s claims that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have armed Syrian opposition groups in an attempt to unite them in displacing President Bashar al Assad’s authoritarian regime.
Morsi has increasingly implied that he is considering amending the terms of its Camp David Accords agreement with Israel, despite maintaining his post-election commitment to respecting Egypt’s international agreements. The Islamist leader has sought to exert control over the Sinai peninsula, after terrorist groups operating there have threatened both Egyptian security and that of neighbouring Israel and his leader adviser told Egyptian daily al Masry al Yourn he is looking into the possibility of moderating the agreement to grant Egypt full sovereignty and control of the region.
Egypt has already compromised the terms of the accord by deploying heavy artillery and missiles for the first time since the 1979 agreement was put in place stipulating Egypt is only allowed to keep a small force operating in the majority of the territory.
Following last Sunday’s attack on the Kerem Shalom border with Israel which killed 16 Egyptian troops and prompted an overhaul of Egyptian defence personnel and military deployment, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman expressed Monday his hopes Egypt would continue to work with Israel to honour its peace treaty.