Israeli media has reported on comments by an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader in which he said that a decision on the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty “belongs to the entire Egyptian people.”. According to a report in the Jerusalem Post:
Muslim Brotherhood official says “decision on the treaty does not belong to the Brotherhood, it belongs to the entire Egyptian people.” The Muslim Brotherhood on Friday said that any decision on the country’s peace treaty with Israel was up to the Egyptian people and it would not impose its view on them, Rueters reported. “The decision on the treaty does not belong to the Brotherhood, it belongs to the entire Egyptian people,” said Essam al-Erian, a spokesman for the Islamist group, in an interview with Al Arabiya television. Erian did not set out the Brotherhood’s position on the accords.
An earlier post reported on comments by El-Erian that if President Mubarak were replaced, a referendum will be held to decide the fate of the 1979 peace treat with Israel. Another post discussed comments by another Egyptian Brotherhood spokesman that that he would like to see the Egyptian people “prepare for war” with Israel
It should be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood today has become a global network and that the Egyptian mother branch is not necessarily the most important part of the movement. Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi, close to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, is often referred to by the GMBDW as the most important leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, an acknowledgement of his role as the de facto spiritual leader of the movement. In 2004, Qaradawi turned down the offer to lead the Egyptian Brotherhood after the death of the Supreme Guide.