Report: Hamas leaders discuss joining Muslim Brotherhood

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh welcomes Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
leader Mohammed Badie before their meeting at the headquarters of the
Muslim Brotherhood movement in Cairo Dec. 26.
(Reuters/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany)

LONDON (Ma'an) -- Hamas leaders are holding meetings in Sudan to discuss joining the Muslim Brotherhood, the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Saturday.

Some 59 members of Hamas' Shura Council met in Khartoum to discuss creating a separate branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, the report said.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met Muslim Brotherhood chairman Muhammad Badie on Dec. 26 during his visit to Cairo.

A Hamas delegation, including Haniyeh and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal, is in Khartoum and met Sudanese President Omar Bashir on Thursday.

In October, a Muslim Brotherhood delegation visited the Gaza Strip for the first time. The party had been curbed by US-aligned Hosni Mubarak but it has been empowered by a strong showing in elections since the president's ouster.
Maan News Agency