The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has reported on the ongoing divide within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood about its relationship with Hamas. According to the report:
The Muslim Brotherhood Shura council has attempted to bridge the divide among members over links with Hamas. In a meeting on Thursday, members of the movement’s so-called “dovish camp” insisted the body dissolve relations with Hamas at the Shura council level. Opposing figures from the “hawk camp” defended ties with Hamas as a “fundamental part of the group’s foundation”, according to a source who attended the meeting The dispute over ties with Hamas has pushed the movement to the brink of crisis in recent years, with four senior Islamists resigning late last year in objection of ongoing relations with the group Sources, revealed that the movement is studying an initiative proposed by a top Islamist figure involving an executive streamlining of the Muslim Brotherhood’s permanent offices in a bid to settle the split Under the proposal, the movement’s offices in the Palestinian territories would no longer be able to vote in the Shura council or other influential bodies in Jordan , as a prelude to permanently severing ties with Hamas In a statement in Jordan Muslim Brotherhood leaders announced that another meeting on the issue will be held in the near future The IAF (Islamic Action Front) Shura council was scheduled to hold a meeting late Saturday to discuss developments related to upcoming elections and its general assembly, slated for March.
Previous posts have reported on the ongoing conflicts within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood over this issue.
Interestingly, Jordanian media have identified Rheil Gharaybeh (aka Ruhail Gharaibeh, Ruheil Gharaibeh) as a member of the so-called dovish camp. An earlier post revealed that in February 2009, Mr. Gharaybeh had spent a week in Washington, DC where he was reported to have met with “leading academics, researchers, and other members of the policy community.” He is also scheduled to participate in the upcoming annual conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), associated with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Also scheduled to attend the CSID conference are prominent Global Muslim Brotherhood figure Tariq Ramadan as well as officials of the U.S. government.