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Wed, Feb 23, 2011 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian Islamic scholar associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, waves to the crowd during Friday prayers attended by thousands in Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday Feb. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Hamas’ Ismail Haniya Invites Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi to Visit the Gaza Strip

Ismail Haniya, head of the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, invited Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi, who recently returned to Egypt from Qatar, to visit the Gaza Strip.

Ismail Haniya also thanked al-Qaradawi in the name of the Hamas administration for his support of the Palestinian cause and for his February 18 call for mass rallies in Egypt to lift the Israeli “siege” of the Gaza Strip.

Sheikh al-Qaradawi, who is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and considered one of the most important living Sunni Muslim clerics, is the source of religious authority for Hamas. According to a Hamas website, al-Qardawi accepted the invitation, promised to try to visit and praised the Gaza Strip’s firm stance (Hamas’ Palestine-info website, February 19, 2011).

On February 18 Qaradawi, who was expelled from Egypt in 1997 and found refuge in Qatar, appeared at a mass rally in Tahrir Square in Cairo and delivered the Friday sermon. His speech, which dealt with the Egyptian revolution, sent a message of unity between Muslims and Christians. However, he ended his speech with a call for the “liberation” of Al-Aqsa mosque and asked the Egyptian army to open the Rafah crossing and allow convoys to enter the Gaza Strip (Al-Jazeera TV, February 18, 2011).