The Palestinian Information Center reported earlier this month that the “Jerusalem Committee” affiliated to the Ministry of Awqaf and religious Affairs in the Hamas government is considering creating an honorary advisory council to include Youssef Qaradawi, the most important leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood. According to the report, the Jerusalem Committee was formed:
…..to confront and explain what Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque are facing in terms of a systematic and programmed Judaization plan backed by the forces of tyranny in the world to create demographic changes in the Holy City, as well as the excavations that are endangering the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the acts of robbery and registration of Jerusalem properties in the Zionist tabu [land registration]authority.
Muslim Brotherhood organizations such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council MPAC in the U.S, have often insinuated that Israel is deliberately attempting to damage the Al-Aqsa mosque.
The report further explained that the Jerusalem Committee would establish a website as well as “publish booklets and leaflets, hold exhibitions, conferences, and local and international seminars, and use all media means to achieve the aims and tasks of the committee.” The report also said that there is an integral relationship between the ministry’s Jerusalem Committee and all local and international establishments and committees on Jerusalem” and that:
The committee members also proposed the formation of a network of media establishments and an honorary advisory body made up of senior scholars and personalities in the Muslim world, such as Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Shaykh Ra’id Salah, and others, and the setting up of a special fund for the committee into which donations from abroad and at home will be deposited.
Aside from being the most important leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, Qaradawi is sometimes described as the “spiritual leader” of Hamas and is also the head of the Union of Good, a worldwide network of charities believed to be raising funds for Hamas/
(Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East – April 3, 2008 Thursday “Gaza-based Hamas government sets up Jerusalem Committee” Source: Palestinian Information Centre website in Arabic 2 Apr 08)