Muslim Brotherhood: �We are against Zionism�

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (February 4, 2011)

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on Thursday evening repeatedly refused to commit to maintaining the peace treaty with Israel, or even recognizing Israel, if the Brotherhood becomes a player in the future governance of Egypt.

Asked on CNN if his organization would support the maintenance of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Mohamed Morsy, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, dodged a direct answer but said Israel had failed to honor the treaty. He said it would be up to the Egyptian parliament to decide on the fate of the treaty, and that the parliament would reflect the will of the people.

Asked next if an Egypt with a Muslim Brotherhood component in government would even recognize the state of Israel, Morsy again evaded a direct answer despite being pressed several times. �It�s ridiculous to ask about the future,� he said at one point, and then responded with the question: �Does Israel recognize a Palestinian state?�

He also accused Israel of �shedding the blood of the Palestinians for more than 60 years.�

Morsy added that the Brotherhood �are not against the Jews. We are against Zionism. We are against torturing the Palestinian people.�

Morsy also said the Muslim Brotherhood opposed violence. �We do not use violence against anyone,� he said. But what was happening on �Palestinian land,� however, he said, was not violence but �resistance. And resistance is acceptable by all mankind. And it is the right of people to resist imperialism,� he said. �