(AA) – Palestinian Hamas movement has welcomed the annulment of a recent court ruling in Egypt which had rendered the group a “terrorist organization.”
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri has described the move as “an important step in the right direction.”
“We are hoping the decision would lead to more stable relations with Egypt,” Abu Zuhri told The Anadolu Agency on Friday.
Last month, an Egyptian court designated Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the next-door Gaza Strip, a “terrorist” group over claims that it had carried out attacks in Egypt via tunnels linking the Sinai Peninsula to the blockaded coastal enclave.
But earlier this month, the Egyptian government said that it would appeal the verdict labeling Hamas a terrorist group.
However, Egyptian lawyer Samir Sabri, who had filed the lawsuit, withdrew the case on Thursday, rendering the ruling invalid.
Sabri said on Friday that his decision to withdraw the case was aimed at “removing obstacles which Egypt’s political leadership might face in serving its role in the Palestinian reconciliation.”
Egypt, a pivotal mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, has played a role in the reconciliation process between rival Hamas and Fatah groups since the former took control of the Gaza Strip in mid-2007.
It also provided a venue for cease-fire talks last summer between Palestinian factions and Israel, which ended a 51-day Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that had left at least 2,160 Palestinians dead.
Cairo-Hamas relations had soured since the Egyptian military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July of 2013, with Egypt’s government tightening its grip on the Rafah border crossing – Gaza’s only outlet to the world outside of Israel’s control.
Egyptian media blames Hamas, an ideological offshoot of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, for a series of deadly attacks on security forces carried out since Morsi’s ouster by the army in mid-2013.
Hamas, for its part, has consistently denied the claims.
