As tensions between Israel and Gaza continue to flare, the real story is what’s happening in Cairo. The conflict represents an acute crisis for the Muslim Brotherhood, which knows the West has long been apprehensive about how it would conduct itself with regards to Israel. So far, the Brotherhood has been in no rush to give a definitive answer, offering instead a mix of sabre-rattling and olive branches. Its hand is now being forced.
Internally, the Brotherhood is divided over the Gaza conflict. Hard liners see this as an excuse to tear up the peace treaty, reassert Egyptian pride, and impose themselves on the conflict. Even before Israel launched military action against Hamas one of the Brotherhood’s most senior members in Alexandria, Ahmad Hamrawi, resigned his membership in disgust at Mohammed Morsi’s unwillingness to bin the Camp David Accords.
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