Egypt state daily: Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah tried to overthrow Mubarak
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 21:09 18/04/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079098.html

A lengthy piece published on Saturday in Egypt's official daily slams Iran,
Hamas and Hezbollah, accusing them of attempting to overthrow the regime of
President Hosni Mubarak.

The article, published in Al-Ahram - the official mouthpiece of the Egyptian
government - blames Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah chief
Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas official Khaled Meshal and leader of the Egyptian
Muslim Brotherhood Mahdi Akef, along with Iran, Syria, and Qatar for their
efforts to destabilize Mubarak's government.

Egypt has long been planning the head-on assault published today, and the
recent uncovering of a Hezbollah espionage ring in the Sinai provided the
perfect timing for its publication.

The article accuses the three countries and three organizations of
cooperating to conspire, adding that only through "providence and
responsible, aware and capable security officials" were the plots to harm
Egypt and its security exposed.

The piece continues by saying the attempt to overthrow Egypt's regime was
set into motion by Hamas' violation of its cease-fire with Israel - a
violation that was coordinated with all of the organization's allies.

According to the article, every side of the conspiracy had a designated
role, aiding Hamas militarily or politically or through the media, while it
was the task of Hamas - which the article dubbed "the military wing of the
Muslim Brotherhood" - to instigate an unwarranted rocket attack on Israel.

Iran's role, according to the article, was to supply Hamas with weapons and
ammunition as well as to lead the ensuing media onslaught. The Islamic
Republic also allegedly cooperated with Hezbollah and its leader Nasrallah
in operating an espionage network in Egypt as far back as 2005 geared at
instigating a revolt within the Sinai Bedouin population and initiating
attacks within the country.

According to the article, Syria's role was to harbor Hamas chiefs and
support of the conspiracy in its official media network. Syria also violated
Arab League rules and regulations in order to assist Qatar in organizing an
informal Arab summit, meant to legitimize Hamas and Iran.

Qatar is called a "tiny state" in the article and is blamed for having
abused the Al-Jazeera news network, owned by the Qatar monarchy, to provide
a platform for Meshal, Nasrallah and Akef.

The news channel itself was called the "Qatar channel owned by the state of
Al-Jazeera, and was blamed of "relinquishing its impartiality in an
aspiration to steer the Egyptian and Arabic public opinion and bluntly hint
at Egypt's alleged cooperation with Israel and the United States."

The Muslim Brotherhood acted against Egypt, according to the Al-Ahram piece,
under the pretense of aiding the Gaza cause.

The article reserves its most severe criticism for Hamas, which it says
acted to afflict one Nakba after the other on the Palestinian people, by
dragging Israel into military action that did not differentiate between
Hamas operatives and innocent civilians.