Madina newspaper Four years ago at his favorite Sharm Al-Sheik resort, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak received his friend Ehud Olmert, the then Israeli prime minister, for bilateral talks, which, as usual, resulted in nothing. A female Hebrew-speaking journalist happened to be outside the meeting room by chance. There were a number of Israeli journalists as well. When Amos Gilad, Olmert's adviser, came out of the room to smoke a cigarette, he was bombarded with questions about what was happening inside. He briefly told the journalists that president Mubarak and Olmert had agreed to undermine the Hamas government and support Abu Mazen. The Egyptian president had many motives for that meeting, the most important of which was that he was very annoyed that Hamas had won the Palestinian elections. Hamas was led by the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza. The Muslim Brotherhood's election victory for the first time in an Arab country adjacent to Egypt was a bad omen for the former Egyptian president. This explained the Egyptian government's conduct toward the Palestinian government led by Ismail Haniyeh. Mubarak's fear of the Muslim Brotherhood over the years is about to be realized within a year after the collapse of his government. Preliminary results of the parliamentary elections in Egypt show a marked preference for candidates of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. About 60 percent of the Egyptian voters cast ballots, a historical turnout of votes. There are many reasons why Egyptian voters participated on an unprecedented scale, but certainly this does not mean that all Egyptians support rule by the Islamists or the Brotherhood. Many groups, including the 10-million strong Coptic minority, are afraid that a win by the Muslim Brotherhood will create repercussions. They fear that the Brotherhood will reshape the political landscape of the country and end democracy. Many voters cast their votes for the Muslim Brotherhood because they want to give them a chance. They believe that if the Brotherhood fails, the group will not get elected again in the next elections. But many Egyptians also fear that if the Brotherhood forms the next government, it will establish a religious regime that might be similar to that of Iran, which centralizes power in Tehran and does not allow any change in the power structure even through election. The Muslim Brotherhood did not play any role in the January 25 revolution which toppled the government. But they were waiting for the regime's downfall and benefited from it. The same scene took place in Tunisia when Al-Nahda Party benefited from the downfall of Ben Ali's regime. In Libya, Islamists are also in the political arena. In Syria, where revolutionists are still fighting to overthrow the regime, the Muslim Brotherhood plays a cautious role but is waiting for the fall of the Syrian regime. In Morocco, the (Islamic) Justice and Development Party won in the first elections. The Moroccan regime acted smartly and accepted the results. Abdelilah Benkirane was tasked to form the first government following constitutional amendments which gave the Moroccan government unprecedented powers. In Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood was absorbed in the government following constitutional amendments allowing the formation of a government that answers to the parliament. The current situation in the region where the Arab Spring took place seems to be full of hopes, fears and illusions. It is not clear how the new landscape will unfold as the Muslim Brotherhood groups appear to be consolidating power in the Arab region. Nobody knows whether they will succeed or not. __
