A Hamas website is reporting that a Hamas delegation has met with Egyptian military leader to discuss various issues. According to a report on the website of the Hamas military wing:
Al Qassam website – A delegation of Hamas led by Mahmoud Zahar has met with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which received power in Egypt following the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak, as well as several political forces and Egyptian parties and a number of youth behind the Jan. 25 revolution. They congregated at the headquarters of the Egyptian Wafd party. Discussions with the Supreme Council focused on bilateral relations, Palestinian reconciliation, the Gaza siege and opening the Rafah crossing on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. They also discussed the Palestinians still being held in Egyptian prisons. The tour, which began a day earlier as Hamas visited the new Egyptian foreign minister Nabil al-Arabi, was concluded with a visit to the Wafd party president El-Sayyid el-Badawi yesterday afternoon. Badawi confirmed that the Israeli-Arab conflict has been an Egyptian issue since the beginning of its history. He added that he has confirmed the right of the Palestinians during meetings with the assistant US secretary of state and US ambassador to Cairo, delegations from the European Union and more. Zahar confirmed during the discussions that the conflict with Fatah is between those who want resistance against the occupation and those who believe that peace can win back even less than 22 per cent of the land. But Hamas, he said, has agreed to reach its hand out to Fatah to meet the demands of the Arabs.
A report on the meeting by Iranian media cite the following assessment by Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Resheq:
”Relations between Hamas and Cairo have continuously developed after the popular revolution in Egypt,” Resheq said, ”and today Egypt has come closer to the beat of the Arab street in general and the Palestinian street in particular. Egypt today is regaining its leadership position in the Arab world. Its relationship with Hamas is good and is developing continuously.”
The Hamas charter states that it “is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine” and an Israeli TV station has reported that in 2008, Muslim Brotherhood “representatives” traveled to Gaza from Egypt through the open border to meet with Hamas. An earlier media report indicated that shortly after Hamas took over the Gaza strip, Muslim Brotherhood representatives were present to review Hamas military formations. Last June, a Hamas journalist acknowledged the role that the “international Muslim Brotherhood” has played in providing funds for the purchase of weapons.The Global Muslim Brotherhood support Hamas through the Union of Good, a worldwide coalition of charities headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi.