Egypt opposition calls for severing ties with Israel

Mar 22, 2010, 11:27 GMT

Cairo - Lawmakers from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, have called on the government to withdraw its ambassador to Israel, amid heightened tensions in the region.

Israeli soldiers fatally shot four Palestinians in the West Bank over the course of Sunday and Monday, following clashes in East Jerusalem over Israeli construction there and access to the holy site known to Muslims as the al-Aqsa mosque compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Palestinians and Israelis gave contradictory accounts of how the deaths occurred.

Brotherhood-affiliated lawmakers called on the Egyptian government to recall its ambassador to Israel, to eject the Israeli ambassador to Cairo and to stop exporting gas to the country, the Egyptian daily al-Shorouq reported Monday.

The Egyptian government has delivered formal diplomatic protests to Israel over its plans to continue building in East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed but which Palestinians hope to make the capital of an independent state.

The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt, but members running as independents in 2005 won nearly a fifth of seats in the People's Assembly, making the group the largest opposition bloc in the legislature.

Brotherhood politicians also criticised the government for restoring a 19th-century synagogue on the site where Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides once worked and prayed 'at a time when Israel is 'Judaizing' Jerusalem,' al-Shorouq reported.

Egypt's Ministry of Culture earlier this month canceled an opening ceremony for the synagogue, citing the tensions in Israel and the West Bank and Israel's decision to include two West Bank tombs sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims on its list of national-heritage sites.

Moustafa al-Fiqi, head of the Egyptian parliament's Committee on Foreign Relations, on Sunday defended the synagogue's restoration as a 'civilized move.'

'It is an Egyptian monument, and does not belong to the Israelis or the Jews,' al-Fiqi said.

The Muslim Brotherhood meanwhile launched a new campaign, called 'Reformists,' to improve the group's image ahead of two rounds of parliamentary elections this spring and fall, al-Shorouq reported.

The campaign would stress the group's rejection of violence and would elaborate on the group's views on women, Christians and political reform, the daily said.