Arab countries voice opinions on Egyptian turmoil

A pro-Morsi rally at the Egyptian embassy in Tunis Nouakchott - Mohammed Shina, Tunis - Azhar Jarboui,  Amman - Iman Abu Kaoud, Gaza - Mohammed Habib, Sanaa - Ali Rabea Thousands of demonstrators have begun protests in the Yemen capital, Sanaa, in support of Egypt’s Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party .
The protesters condemned the violent crackdown of Egyptians, which they described as a “massacre”, which left scores of people dead and hundreds injured.
They accused Egypt’s Defence Minister, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, of being behind the deaths, and voiced calls for his prosecution.
Leading member of Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood, Fouad al-Hamiri, joined the marching groups.  Demonstrators chanted slogans and carried pictures of former president and leader of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Morsi.  Similar protests also took place in the cities of Taiz and Hadida.
Yemen’s leading General People’s Congress party said it supported the Egyptian people and condemned the violence.
Arab leaders voiced their views on the ongoing violence in Egypt, with some tacitly supporting the deadly crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood , fearing the group\'s growing regional influence, analysts say.
Egypt\'s army, directly or indirectly in power since 1952, ousted the Brotherhood\'s democratically elected Mohammed Morsi as president in a July 3 coup and installed an interim civilian government in its place.
Morsi\'s supporters set up protest camps in Cairo and promised to stay put until the former leader, now in custody, was reinstated. The government ordered them to disperse and, after a number of delays, police backed by troops stormed the camps on Wednesday.
The death toll from ensuing clashes, in the capital and across Egypt, has reached nearly 600 people.
Qatar, a Brotherhood patron and Tunisia, whose ruling Ennahda party is affiliated with the movement, have strongly condemned the assault.
Tunisia’s foreign ministry called on all political forces in Egypt to restore dialogue to “create the appropriate climate” for national reconciliation. Officials have urged the military to avoid dragging the country into further chaos. The ministry also denounced the excessive use of force against Islamist protesters.
The delayed statement from Tunisia’s foreign ministry regarding Egypt has, however, been criticised by the Tunisian opposition, especially as the Tunisian Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments issued a statement beforehand.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian Union of Muslim Scholars announced that the violence in Egypt is “unacceptable” and “cannot be justified by any means.” The union called on Egyptian armed forces to get back to its role of \"protecting the country\" and to bring an end to the bloody crisis. The union also affirmed that it is not supporting any political group, but is concerned for Egypt and its future.
In Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh – the head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip - has denied any military or security role in the Egyptian conflict, stating that Gaza’s military’s role is only “focused on Palestine and against the Israeli occupation.”
For his part, Dr Ahmed Bahar, the first deputy speaker of the Palestinian legislative council, has referred to the violence in Egypt as a “US-Israeli scheme against the most powerful state in the Arab world” with attempts to make it “weak and divided.”
Bahar added that the “strength of Egypt is the strength of the nation” and the “weakness of Egypt is the weakness of the nation.” He then pointed out that Israel will “take advantage” of the violence in Egypt and seek to “isolate” the country from its leading role.
The Palestinian speaker called on the Arab League, the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to “intervene immediately” to stop the bloodshed and end the crisis.

Turkey, whose Islamist government is ideologically aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, has widened its influence in the Arab world since the outbreak of the Arab Spring. Iran has reinforced its links with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and established relations with the Brotherhood in Egypt.
Mauritania also issued a statement saying: “The only one way out of the current crisis to save lives and unite Egyptian people is through dialogue.” The foreign ministry thus urged all political parties, organisations and military officials to begin dialogue in order to find a peaceful solution out of the violence.