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US official: UAE hostiles Muslim Brotherhood because they call for democracy and elections

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The director of the Peace and Rights Building Program at the Columbia Institute for the Study of Human Rights, David Phillips, called on the United States to seek common ground with the Muslim Brotherhood instead of renouncing it.

The Muslim Brotherhood does not adopt a policy of institutional violence, and the administration of US President Donald Trump will make a grave mistake if it fails to see this group as a moderate alternative to the organization of the Islamic state and al-Qaeda, said Phillips, who served as chief adviser and foreign affairs expert at the US State Department under presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Involving the Muslim Brotherhood will contribute to the advancement of American interests, said Phillips, who wrote a book entitled “From Bullets to Ballots: Violent Muslim Movements in Transition.” It will also promote peace by moderating Muslim youth and easing the trend towards violence.

Trump proposes that the Muslim Brotherhood be classified as a “foreign terrorist organization” and that it would satisfy Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his allies in the Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but would not serve the strategic interests of the United States in the Muslim world.

He considered that the exclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood would be seen as an attack on Islam, leading to the isolation of Muslim youth and pushing them to “extremism” and violence.

Phillips also said the three countries view the Muslim Brotherhood and its call for elections as a threat to its stability.

The writer described these countries’ rejection of the Brotherhood as a positive force as an abuse of freedom and democracy in the Arab world.

He said that the US policy towards the Muslim Brotherhood should be based on understanding the historical role of the Brotherhood and their current position in the Muslim community all over the world.

The author highlighted some of the features of the group since it was founded by the late Hassan al-Banna in 1928 and turned it into a global movement with branches in more than seventy countries, describing it as having great appeal to emphasize the establishment of Islamic equality based on the welfare of society.

He said that in February 1949, when he was assassinated, al-Banna’s views developed away from violence and “extremism” and adopted gradual change and the group’s dedication to social services. Banna also took a strategic decision to guide the Brotherhood toward the political center.

The Brotherhood’s main faction now renounces violence, Phillips said, noting that the Brotherhood’s transformation into a legal political party would ease “fanatical” groups in Egypt and across the Middle East.

He added that the Egyptian government refused to allow the Brotherhood to act as a legal political party, and arrested more than thirty thousand of its members under the provisions of the Emergency Law.