CAIRO - A pledge recently made by two leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition force in Egypt, to set up a purely Islamic state in this country, has fuelled fears about the Islamists' agenda in post-Mubarak Egypt. Mahmoud Ezzat and Saad el-Husseini, two senior officials in the group that was officially banned in Egypt since 1954 until last February, told a recent rally in Cairo that the Muslim Brotherhood sought to establish an Islamic rule in Egypt and urged all Islamist groups "not to feel comfortable" until Egypt became an Islamic state. The pronouncements have sent shockwaves among liberals and Coptic Christians – the latter make up around 10 per cent of Egypt's population. The statement prompted the Coptic Church to pull the plug on a planned dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood, according to sources inside the Church. The controversial remarks coincided with a plan by the group to create a political party, which its founders said would be open to Copts. "The Brotherhood really wants a democratic civil state," Mohamed el-Beltagy, a senior official in the group, said. "The Brotherhood rejects using violence, and has never been found guilty in any case of violence since 1965," he told The Egyptian Gazette. Fears about the Islamists' agenda have spilled over into the US as well. Last week, the US Congress discussed the place and the role of the Muslims Brotherhood in Egypt's future political landscape. The meeting was dominated by how much the US should fear the empowerment of the group. Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy warned against an alleged danger of the Muslims Brotherhood reaching power. "They are just pretending that they are 'modern' and 'democratic', while in reality they are trying to Islamise the society," he told the meeting. Satloff is convinced that the Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence due to the oppression they suffered under the former regime. According to him, it was not an optional choice. "The repercussions of their coming to power will have its impact on education, and the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt," he warned. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. But anti-Israel sentiment still runs high in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country. "We respect all the agreements. But it is our right to read them again and review their implementation," el-Beltagy, the senior official in the group, commented. "We support just and comprehensive peace for all parties and advocate international interests as long as they do not harm those of Egypt," he added. To Nathan Brown, a professor of political science at George Washington University, there is no reason for panic about the Muslims Brotherhood. "The US doesn't need to adopt a specific policy towards the Muslims Brotherhood," he said. "The Brotherhood may cause headache to Washington, but it is not a cancer," added Brown.
