Israeli raids lead to divisions among Arabs

Cairo: Deadly Israeli raids on Gaza have deepened the divide in the Arab world between Islamists with popular appeal and authoritarian governments widely seen as collaborating with Israel and the US.

Especially in Egypt the battle lines are clearer than ever, as members of the ruling party give Egypt's own Islamists, allies of the Palestinian movement Hamas, advice along the lines of "If you don't like it in Egypt, you can go to Gaza".

Hussain Megawir, a pro-government Egyptian MP, said in a debate on Gaza on Saturday: "There is an Iranian plan, with Hamas and some of the [Muslim] Brotherhood, to stir up trouble in Palestine and Egypt."

The Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group with one fifth of the seats in parliament, is in close alliance with Hamas, which began as a Brotherhood offshoot.

In its turn, the Brotherhood says Arabs and Muslims should rise up against "the despicable silence and connivance on the part of most Arab and Islamic regimes and governments".

Hamas to blame

In statements on the raids, the Egyptian government and its Palestinian allies in the Fatah movement have come close to saying that Hamas is mainly to blame for the raids, which in two days have killed more than 270 people.

Egyptian foreign minister said on Saturday that Egypt sent warnings about the possibility of an Israeli offensive and those who ignored the warnings were responsible for the consequences.

In Cairo yesterday, Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas echoed the theme. "We talked to them [Hamas] and we told them 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop', so that we could have avoided what happened," he said.

In contrast with the conservative Arabs blaming Hamas, in many parts of the Arab world demonstrators and others have criticised Arab governments for passivity towards the raids.

Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, who likes to play the role of conscience of the Arab nation, joined in the criticism of Arab leaders yesterday "These characters should be ashamed of themselves. They are trading on the name of the Palestinian cause with their cowardly, weak and defeatist stands," he said.

At a protest in Baghdad, Palestinian ambassador Galil Al Qasus said: "We were waiting for action from the Arab leaders, but now we do not want anything from them... We appealed to Arab leaders for almost 60 years, but all these efforts were in vain."

Protesters and opposition groups have demanded that Egypt and Jordan break off relations with the Jewish state and that Egypt throw open its border with Gaza, ending the blockade imposed on the strip for much of the time since Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006.

But Egypt has repeatedly ignored public pressure to expel the Israeli ambassador and its policy on the border with Gaza is driven by fear that Israel will dump the whole Gaza morass in its lap for many years to come, diplomats say.