Mubarak Lambastes Israeli Refusal to Peace Talks

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 17, 2002

Mubarak Lambastes Israeli Refusal to Peace Talks

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday attributed the stalled Mideast peace process to the lack of Israel's desire for peace.

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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday attributed the stalled Mideast peace process to the lack of Israel's desire for peace.

Mubarak made the remarks at a joint meeting of the People's Assembly and the Shura Council at the beginning of a new parliamentary session, which was lively televised.

In the speech, the president said "Israel is not ready to enter into serious negotiations with the Palestinians on establishing an independent Palestinian state, and to withdraw from all Syrian and Lebanese lands."

"Security will not be there unless Israel abides by UN resolutions, and the crisis in Israel undoubtedly shows that military power in Israel is starting to re-evaluate the situation and policies adopted nowadays," he said.

Mubarak expressed hope that Israel would join in efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace in the region as soon as possible.

On Nov. 5, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced an election in the next February following his failure to form a narrow right-wing government.

The announcement came one week after the left-wing Labor Party quit the government, which left Sharon's coalition a minority of 55seats in the 120-member Knesset (parliament).

Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that if he is elected as the next Israeli prime minister, the first thing he will do will be to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"As prime minister I will expel Arafat. I promise Yasser Arafat will be expelled," Netanyahu said to 2,700 delegates of a Likud convention in Tel Aviv. Sharon also told the convention that he would wage an unrelenting battle against Palestinian militants, andpredicted the effort could lead to a more moderate Palestinian leadership.

He did not specify what action he might take against Arafat, butsaid "we must not act in haste," in an apparent reference to Netanyahu's call to expel Palestinian leader.

More than 2,600 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli violence in late September 2000.

Egypt, the first Arab country to have signed a peace treaty withIsrael in 1979, has been a key peace broker in the region. Mubarak has repeatedly said there would be no peace between the Palestinians and Israel as long as Sharon is still in power.

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