Hamas's Zahar obtains Egyptian citizenship
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH The Jerusalem Post 04/30/2012 18:04
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=268104

Zahar says he'll vote for an Islamist candidate in Egypt elections, got
citizenship under law that was little used under Mubarak.

Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, revealed Monday that he
has obtained Egyptian citizenship thanks to an Egyptian law that allows
Palestinians born to Egyptian mothers to become Egyptian nationals.

Zahar told BBC's Arabic news service that the law had not been enforced
under ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

For decades, most Arab countries have refused to grant citizenship to
Palestinians.

At the request of thousands of Egyptian families who have Palestinian
children, the new regime in Egypt began in the past year granting Egyptian
citizenship to Palestinians, he said.

Zahar said that he received an Egyptian passport in September 2011.

Hundreds of Palestinians born to Egyptian mothers have also been granted
Egyptian citizenship since the ouster of Mubarak.

Asked whether he was planning to vote in the upcoming Egyptian presidential
election, Zahar said he would cast his ballot for one of the Islamist
candidates.

He said that efforts to achieve reconciliation with Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction have been deadlocked, mainly due to
the ongoing PA security clampdown on Hamas supporters in the West Bank.

"Abbas must first ensure freedom of activity for Hamas people in the West
Bank who are suffering from harassment and are being prevented from carrying
out political activities," Zahar added.

"Abbas must also ensure that the next elections will also be held in
Jerusalem. Without Jerusalem, there will be no elections."

Hamas, he said, wants guarantees that its candidates in future elections
won't be arrested by Israeli authorities, as has been the case with
parliament members who were elected in the January 2006 vote.

Zahar said he did not believe that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was
sincere about achieving peace with the Palestinians. "If Israel really
wanted a Palestinian state, it won't be intensifying settlement construction
in the West Bank and Jerusalem," he said.

A truce with Israel was dependent not only on Hamas, but the agreement of
all Palestinian factions as well, he said.