Muslim Brotherhood will not accept siege of Gaza due to actions of "misguided" group

The spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Dr. Mahmoud Ghuzlan, has said that the movement will not accept a tightening of the siege on the Gaza Strip due to the actions of a “misguided” group. He stressed that the people of Gaza should not face collective punishment for something done by a small number of people.

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In an exclusive statement to Quds Press, Ghuzlan commented on the action being taken against the tunnels that link Egypt and Gaza: “We do not accept this action as a way to tighten the siege on the Gaza Strip because the Palestinians should not be punished for an act of terrorism perpetrated by a group which is astray, especially as most of them were from Sinai.” However, he added that there are many tunnels and he does not think that the intention of the government in Cairo is to “block all ports of entry into Gaza”.

Will the Brotherhood provide political cover for the siege of Gaza? “This question should not be addressed to the Muslim Brotherhood, who fought [alongside the Palestinians] in 1948 and are willing to fight for every grain of dust in the Sinai,” he replied. “We will not put Gaza’s people under a blockade; they are our brothers, and our relations with them are excellent.”

According to Dr. Ghuzlan, there are high-level contacts between the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the leaders of the people of Gaza “to contain the consequences of the terrorist act” in Sinai which took place last week.