Azzouz: Cairo arrested Dababesh put pressure Hamas

A prominent Egyptian writer, Salim Azzouz, has confirmed that the arrest of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) official, Mohamed Dababesh, by the Egyptian authorities at Cairo airport falls within Egypt’s security plan to force the movement to sign the Palestinian national reconciliation paper proposed by Egypt.

In an exclusive interview with Quds Press, Azzouz said that the Egyptian authorities’ detention of the Hamas leader is also part of a campaign to rehabilitate the Egyptian government. He said: “The Egyptian regime is trying to force Hamas to return to talks with the Palestinian Authority, at a time when the intelligence minister, Gen Omar Suleiman, is meeting with the Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Khaled Meshaal. In recent months the Egyptian regime has been waging a campaign of arrests and detention of Hamas members while accusing many Africans of cooperating with it.”

“The Egyptian regime is looking for any opportunity through which it could show local, Arab and international public opinion that it is still alive. This is a sign of weakness proving that the regime no longer possesses any credentials to play a meaningful role in the region,” he said.