Mubarak Welcomes Bush's Statements on Palestine, Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, September 14, 2002

Mubarak Welcomes Bush's Statements on Palestine, Iraq

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday welcomed US President George W. Bush's commitment to the creation of an independent Palestinian state in his Thursday's speech to the UN General Assembly.

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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday welcomed US President George W. Bush's commitment to the creation of an independent Palestinian state in his Thursday's speech to the UN General Assembly.

During an interview with Egypt's official MENA news agency, Mubarak also praised Bush's remarks on Iraq as leaving a door open for solving the Iraqi problem within the framework of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Mubarak urged the Iraqi leadership to seize the chance and implement all UN Security Council resolutions on the Iraq issue, and accept the return of weapons inspectors immediatelyto avoid further escalations.

"I listened earnestly to President Bush's speech and I would like to welcome the positive points he mentioned," MENA quoted Mubarak as saying.

"First, I welcome his (Bush's) emphasis on a US commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state side by side with Israel and his (stance on) holding parties concerned responsible for achieving this goal," Mubarak said.

"Second, I welcome President Bush's statements on Iraq and his leaving the door ajar for a vital role to be played by the United Nations, especially the Security Council," he added.

"This would hopefully help find a way out, which would spare allparties negative repercussions which might be spawned by the escalation, and will also retain the sovereignty and integrity of Iraq," he stressed.

Addressing a UN General Assembly session on Thursday, Bush warned that his country is ready to act "militarily" against Iraq without the United Nations, if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein does nothonor his commitments to disarmament and UN weapons inspections.

"We can not stand by and do nothing," Bush said, adding UN weapons inspectors' failure to act would mean betting the lives of millions in a "reckless gamble."

Under UN Security Council resolutions, the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, can only be lifted when the weapons inspectors certify that Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons have been destroyed.

The UN inspectors left Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of a US-British bombing campaign to punish Baghdad for not cooperating withthe arms experts, and have been barred by Iraq from returning to the country since then.

Terming the Iraqi regime as a grave gathering danger, Bush said, "dangers in their most lethal and aggressive forms, exactly the kind of aggressive threat the United Nations was born to confront."

The United States has been accusing Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction to pose a threat to security of its neighboringcountries, an allegation that has been denied by Iraq.

Bush has threatened to use all tools at his disposal to topple Saddam.

Egypt, one of US allies in the Mideast region, has loudly opposed any possible US attack on Iraq, saying such a move will destabilize the volatile Mideast situation and cause unpredictable consequences.

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