BAGHDAD, April 23 (IslamOnline.net) - The Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) will not adopt violence as an approach to resist the U.S.-Anglo occupation of Iraq, the party's Secretary General Dr. Mohsen Abdul Hamid said Wednesday, April 23.

Speaking to IslamOnline.net, Abdul Hamid rejected any kind of cooperation with an occupation-installed government.

"It is abundantly clear that we reject the presence of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, but we will not use violence in resisting it," he said.

"Armed confrontation is useless and we will resist (the occupation) peacefully. The party and other Iraqi religious and national factions are on board when it comes to this, no doubt."

The secretary general said the party made a comeback to Iraq after decades in exile, noting that "it was reformed to reach out to a large section of the grassroots, particularly after the downfall of the Iraqi regime."

"The parties in Iraq are a dime a dozen … Any body can stroll five persons together and form a party," Abdul Hamid said, referring to the anarchy and free-for-all looting that swept Iraq.

"But the IIP (Iraq's Muslim Brotherhood) is a time-honored party that dates back to 1944, when Imam Hassan al-Banna (the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928) dispatched his close ally Dr. Hussein Kamal Eddin.

"But the then government did not allow us to name the party after the Muslim Brotherhood and we instead established the society of Islamic brotherhood, which played a pivotal role in whipping up religious zeal in Iraq at that point in time," he added.

"With the advent of the Islamic revolution and communists assuming power, we set up the IIP in 1960 but was disbanded by a wave of arrests among its cadres, driving some of us to work underground, while others fled the country to escape the hair-raising execution and arrest campaigns, which were launched by the Baathists in 1968."

Asked whether or not the IIP would cooperate with the new U.S.-installed Iraqi government, Abdul Hamid said the party "will never cooperate with any government not elected by the Iraqi people under the umbrella of the international legitimacy."

He stressed that the IIP exiles neither negotiated with the Americans or the British before the invasion of Iraq nor "threw themselves in the arms" of the occupying forces as some of Iraqi opposition figures did.

"The IIP has been always a vocal opponent to the U.S.-Anglo occupation of Iraq," he underlined.

"The Americans would only bless a government that helps them set up military bases in Iraq and recognizes Israel. We, from the bottom of our hearts, are against this and we put it clear that they will not stay in Iraq for long."

Asked whether the Iraqi people would be able to stand united in the face of the occupation given that they are split into Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Turkmen, Abdul Hamid said the IIP called on all Iraqi communities to act in concert and heal their rift.

"We have built bridges of confidence with the Shiites since 1960, when we stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of the communist drive in Iraq at that time," he said.

"We revived the party once again and are doing everything in our power to redraw its political, economic and social maps," he said, noting that the part had already set up ad hoc committees to draw up the executive regulation of the party and make some amendments to its constitution.