Brotherhood's reconciliation bid coming up against a brick wall
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement tries to convince Egyptians that it wants to make reconciliation with state authorities.
In April and March
2018, Kamal al-Helbawi, who is a member of the international organization of
the Muslim Brotherhood, tried to propagate information that his organization
wanted to reconcile with the Egyptian state.
He called in an
interview with a Palestinian newspaper for the formation of a panel of wise
people to broker reconciliation between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian
state.
This reconciliation,
he said, has to end conflicts between the two sides.
Helbawi said his
call for reconciliation excludes only those who were involved in violence, as
if the Muslim Brotherhood was not involved in this violence.
However, his call
for reconciliation was categorically rejected like previous initiatives.
Nonetheless, deputy
head of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ibrahim
Muneer, welcomed Helbawi's suggestion. He said his organization was ready to
consider any mediation to end what he described as the "crisis" with
Egypt.
Nevertheless, on
July 28, 2018, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi turned down the initiative.
He said he had
decided to fight terrorism without any procrastination or hesitation.
Sisi added that his
administration had no option but to stand against the ideology of terrorist
organizations that want to use religion to serve their political goals.
"Those who want
to live among us have to stop harming us," Sisi said.
He even threatened that
those who would point their guns at Egyptian police and army troops would be
faced very decisively.
On October 11, 2020,
President Sisi said almost the same thing.
He said during a
seminar marking the 47th anniversary of the 1973 October war victory that he
could not reconcile with those who "want to destroy Egypt and harm its
people".
Until now, the
Muslim Brotherhood encourages its affiliates to carry out destructive actions,
including hampering transport and staging protests.
The Muslim
Brotherhood has a long record of violence and causing problems to ordinary
Egyptians.
Egyptian TV host
Lamees al-Hadidi described Sisi's assertion against reconciliation with the
Muslim Brotherhood as the "most brazen" message against this
reconciliation in years.
"Sisi's remarks
today are extremely important," Hadidi said on the private TV channel,
ONTV. "We need to take notice of these remarks."
Renowned lawyer and
writer Mukhtar Noah described the Muslim Brotherhood as a "defeated"
group.
He said the leaders of
the Muslim Brotherhood have to surrender to the authorities so that they can undergo
trials.
