Jordanian media is reporting on continued friction within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood regarding its ties to Hamas. According to a report in the JordanTimes:
The Muslim Brotherhood’s shura council has rejected the resignations of four members of the group’s executive office in hopes of containing a crisis that has been brewing within the group. During a meeting late Thursday, the 51-member council, the highest decision-making body in the Brotherhood, the largest opposition group, swiftly decided to reject the resignations of Rheil Gharaybeh, Mamdouh Muheisen, Ahmad Kafawin and Mohammad Qudah. The four dovish Islamists tendered their resignations to protest the movement’s continued organisational connectivity with Hamas. The decision was meant to defuse the crisis and avoid early elections for the group’s leadership, said a source in the organisation. In a statement issued after the meeting, the council emphasised that its meeting was held “in a friendly atmosphere”, but declined to mention the group’s latest position on ties with Hamas, a sticking point between doves and hawks. “The council decided to refuse the resignations presented by members of the executive office and urged them to return to their duties,” said a statement from the shura council sent to The Jordan Times. Islamist sources expect another round of talks will take place in the coming weeks within the group’s ranks to settle the issue for good. Gharaybeh, Muheisen, Kafawin and Qudah belong to the doves’ camp, which has been pushing for an end to the organisation’s links with Hamas, a request fiercely opposed by the hawks, who represent the majority at the shura council. While there has been friction between party hawks and doves over the past two years, a recent meeting of the shura council proved to be the catalyst for the current crisis. The resignations came less than a week after an internal political report was leaked following a shura council meeting aimed at getting hawks and doves to settle their differences over internal and external policies. None was singled out for blame after the report was leaked, but fingers were pointed indirectly at the political office, led by Gharaybeh, who is said to have drafted the report.
An earlier post discussed resignations at the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, said to be the result of criticism of the IAF Secretary-General by more moderate factions in the movement.