CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday slammed an Egyptian peace plan for Gaza for putting the victim and executioner on the same footing.
The announcement of the latest Egyptian initiative is worrying, the banned but usually tolerated group said in a statement after Cairo floated a plan to end Israel s assault on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and rocket attacks targeting south Israel.
Hamas, which took control of Gaza in June 2007 and is the main target of the Israeli onslaught, is an offshoot of Egypt s Muslim Brotherhood.
The plan limits itself to calling for a ceasefire and a truce, putting the victim and executioner on the same footing, the statement said.
The Egyptian plan calls for an immediate ceasefire for a specified period, opening Gaza s border crossings, preventing arms smuggling into the territory and an invitation to Palestinian factions to reconciliation talks.
Arab envoys at the United Nations have also been trying to get a statement or resolution on Gaza passed by the Security Council, so far without success.
To our regret, the Egyptian initiative falls well short of the Arab proposal at the UN Security Council, the Brothers said, calling the plan extremely unclear concerning the Palestinian side.
The Muslim Brotherhood called on Egypt to take all measures to oblige the Zionist enemy to end its aggression and withdraw immediately from Gaza.
In recent days Egyptian security forces have rounded up hundreds of Muslim Brothers who tried to stage protests against the Israeli offensive on Gaza in which at least 763 people have been killed. -AFP
