Arafat Unlikely to Control Situation Amid Israeli Violence: Mubarak

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 10, 2001

Arafat Unlikely to Control Situation Amid Israeli Violence: Mubarak

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will not be able to control the worsening situation in the occupied Palestinian territories amid escalating Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Sunday night.

"Asking Arafat to stop all violent acts would be impossible in the light of Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian houses, assassinating their leaders and imposing blockade on their villages and towns," Mubarak told the media when he wound up his brief visit to Syria.

He criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for blocking Arafat's travel to Qatar for a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Countries (OIC) foreign ministers, scheduled to be held in Doha on Monday.

Meanwhile, Mubarak said that he had mandated Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher to convey a message to Sharon, in which he warned Israel against killing Arafat.

Maher visited Israel and the Palestinian self-rule areas last Thursday in a bid to find ways of easing the latest tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

Sharon had told Maher that he does not intend to murder Arafat, according to Mubarak, who warned that "killing Arafat does not mean an end but rather the beginning for the emergence of one hundred Palestinian leaders who would all step up violence against Israel."

The Middle East situation is deteriorating as the Israeli army has launched several rounds of airstrikes on Palestinian targets to retaliate Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem and the northern Israeli city of Haifa a week ago, which left 25 Israelis dead and more than 200 others injured.

Egypt, the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has been making intensive efforts to help end the violence and resume peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.

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