CAIRO: The head of Egypt’s prestigious Al-Azhar institution said on Wednesday resolving the rift between the Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah was an Islamic duty and branded whoever blocked it a "sinner."
"Palestinian reconciliation is a religious obligation and a sacred duty. Whoever blocks or delays it has sinned," Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb said in a statement published by the official MENA news agency.
Tayeb, who became Egypt’s leading cleric in March after the death of his predecessor at Al-Azhar, also called on Palestinians, "regardless of their affiliations, to rise above their differences."
The Palestinians have been divided since the Islamist Hamas movement routed forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas from the Gaza Strip in 2007, limiting his powerbase to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Egypt tried unsuccessfully to mediate between Fatah and Hamas, blaming Hamas, which refused to sign a unity agreement, for the failure of the talks.
The head of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s most prestigious center of religious learning, is appointed by the government.
