Dec.  16, 2001

President Hosni Mubarak has warned that Israeli escalation of attacks against the Palestinians will lead to unlimited future dangers.

    They imagine that when they eliminate the Palestinian Authority, they will get the upper hand. On the contrary, a state of chaos inside and outside (Israel) will prevail, the Egyptian leader said in an interview to Samir Ragab, the chairman and editor of Al Gomhuria.

    The policy they (Israelis) are pursuing is short-sighted. It will lead to no solution. Rather it will lead to catastrophes.

    Mubarak said that he did not believe that Palestinian official Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen, would replace Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

    Whoever would take over should wield popularity which would not come about without launching operations against Israel in response to The Egyptian leader termed as a bizarre act Israel's barring of Arafat from leaving the Palestinian self-rule areas to attend an emergency meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) last week.

    Israel on Wednesday said it would break off all contacts with Arafat whom it termed as irrelevant.

    The Palestinian Authority's installations have been the target of a sustained wave of Israeli attacks.

    Mubarak said that Middle East violence would continue until Israel renounced its belief that its repressive measures against the Palestinians would make it feel secure.

    Security and peace will not be fulfilled unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established. This cannot be realised without negotiations and easing the siege of the Palestinian people.

    Mubarak said that contacts were constant with the US and Europe to re-establish stability in Afghanistan through reconciling the warring factions there.

    At the same time, the US administration is making intense efforts parallel to its anti-terror campaign so as to activate the peace process in the Middle East, he said.

    But day after day, Israel is unprepared to enter a peaceful settlement.

    Mubarak emphasised that the world war against terror would not be ephemeral.

    It would be a mistake to presume that this war would come to an end with the end of the current military campaign in response to the September 11 events.

    The US has been leading a sustained military campaign in Afghanistan to punish militant Taliban for harbouring Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden whom Washington accuses of masterminding the September deadly assaults.

    Mubarak said that grappling with terrorism called for a rational and long-term policy based on international cooperation.

    He urged the root causes behind terrorism be thoroughly handled. I call on the international community to join hands to find solutions to the contemporary international problems which engender feelings of (frustration and despair), notably the Middle East.

    Economic openess and globalisation should be pursued in a way that would allow everybody to benefit from them.

    Mubarak renewed his suggestion for convening an international conference under the auspices of the UN to provide a clear-cut definition of terrorism and draw the line between terror and resistance to foreign occupation. "Defending the national soil is not terrorism", he said.

    Mubarak recalled that since 1986 he has warned against the global threat of terrorism and called for effective measures to counter it.

    Some at that time claimed that Egypt was suffering from terrorism due to socio-economic problems it was experiencing.

    But the September 11 events proved that the international community has been too late in according enough attention to this evil and to uprooting it, he told Al Gomhuria editor.

    He was refuting a claim in the Western media that terrorism had originated in the Arab countries.

    The Egyptian leader renewed his support for the creation of a common Arab market, saying it was the sole guarantee to Arabs to be an influential economic power.

    I think that the September 11 events and their aftermath of an anti-Arab campaign in the US and Europe emphasise this point and accentuate the importance of getting together in one economic bloc so as to be of influence on the international arena.

    He dismissed as baseless alleged trouble in Egypt's relations with the US and Europe over its anti-terror stand.

    We frankly declared that we will not contribute troops to the operations in Afghanistan because such participation is ruled by strict constitutional and parliamentary criteria which are not met in the current situation.

    This stand has drawn welcome and full understanding from everybody, said the Egyptian leader.

    Mubarak added that such a war would lead to nowhere and Sharon would achieve neither stability nor security for the Israelis.

    Asked whether the hope of resuming negotiations has been dashed, Mubarak said: "When you find yourself unable to send children to school or hospital or even to feed them, you will feel frustrated and decide to commit suicide but also to kill someone else with you. This is what takes place now and it will continue unless a solution is reached. But my words should not be taken as a call for violence. All sides should stop violence. We have had negotiations before Sharon who has stoked up the situation in the region more than once."

    Mubarak cited the provocative visit of Sharon, then Israeli opposition leader, to the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque in September 1999. Al-Aqsa Mosque is Islam's third holiest site.

    Asked whether there is a state of despair in Egypt over Sharon's government, Mubarak said: "I feel no despair. But I can say there is a state of frustration at the practices of Sharon’s government and Sharon's personal decisions in which the government may have no hand."

    Mubarak said that the Israelis elected Sharon to bring them security but his use of military power had led to nothing.

    On whether he is worried over Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's life. Mubarak said: "I am concerned about peace in the first place. But if the Israelis killed Arafat they would commit a crime against all the Palestinians and the Israelis alike, because it will be difficult to find someone who is backed by all the Palestinians."

    Mubarak added: "Several leaderships will then emerge and they will vie to gain support of the Palestinians by carrying out more violent operations inside and outside Israel. Israel should understand this very well and know that it is a danger.

    He warned that the elimination of Arafat would engender chaos which would be harmful to Israel. "There must come a time when the people's patience is frayed and the governments would be compelled to enter into an arms race to obtain lethal biological weapons.

    Speaking about U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's proposals, the President said he does not think the latest events will have any impact on Powell's suggestions.

    "We have asked Bush Administration not to recall General Anthony Zinni because what have taken place should make the U.S. more determined to go ahead with putting into effect the Mitchell report," Mubarak said.

    He said that no solution would be reached without negotiations "whether Sharon completes what he calls a war or not... and he would not be able to complete it."

    He added that Sharon does not want negotiations, citing the Israeli Premier’s insistence on a seven-day period of full non-violence. "This is impractical and gives the enemies of peace the chance to hamper the march."·

    The present Israeli government makes promises without fulfilling them. Since coming to power, Sharon has given me three promises, of which he has kept not a single promise," said Mubarak.

    President Mubarak added that US and European pressure on Sharon is inevitable to bring him to the negotiating table.

    "I think that the US and Europe should make their best now because violence is mounting and the situation will aggravate," he said.

    "We will not allow the Palestinian cause to die," he said, adding that setting up the Palestinian state side by side with Israel is inevitable. "It (the Palestinian state) is the best guarantee for Israel's security." Mubarak said that Powell's Mideast proposals complement the Mitchell Report and the George Tenet plan.

    "I told President George W. Bush frankly and objectively that the Palestinian cause brooks no delay because the situation is deteriorating day after day," he said, citing his contacts with the US Administration before the September 11 attacks.

    Mubarak described as good Powell's proposals, adding that what is important is their implementation.

    Asked if the current U.S. Administration has the ability to get Israel to implement them, Mubarak said that he believes the present administration has such ability. "The US represents the life artery for Israel," he added, pointing to the military and financial support the Jewish state is getting from Washington. Mubarak reiterated Egypt's keenness to free the Middle East of nuclear and mass destruction weapons. "The region will be destroyed either by nuclear, chemical or biological weapons," Mubarak warned, adding that no one would be immune to this danger.

    He asserted that the United states has indispensable interests in the region, adding that Mideast instability might undermine those interests.

    “The US does not accept Sharon's seven-day precondition and it supports for the first time in public the creation of the Palestinian state," he added, adding that these principles require implementation on the ground.

    Mubarak alluded to the global economic crisis following the September 11 assaults, adding that they have deeply affected tourism and aviation industries in Egypt, Europe and the world at large.

    Whether the war in Afghanistan is similar to the Gulf War II, Mubarak said they were totally different. "The Gulf War erupted to put an end to one country's aggression on its neighbour but the war on Afghanistan is a war against terrorists," he added.

    We cannot say that this war will end terrorism. We are talking about terrorism resulting from the wrong practices of groups that have been acting under the cloak of Islam for long."

    Mubarak said he asked the Americans to avoid hitting civilians in Afghanistan, adding that during wars it is difficult to know the civilian from the military.

    Mubarak stressed that situation in Afghanistan will not calm down and that the peacekeepers who will be stationed there will undertake an uphill task. He went on to say that Egypt's problems with terrorism started with the withdrawal of the Russian forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s. The terrorists, who call themselves Mujahidin, found themselves jobless. Some came to Egypt through Libya and Sudan and only then the terror operations began. Mubarak stressed that all perpetrators of terror operations in Egypt came from Afghanistan.

    He denied that late President Anwar Al-Sadat's ruling system had encouraged Islamists. "Some people advised Sadat to encourage the Islamic groups to stand in face of communism. But this advice was not sound because communism did not thrive in our country."

    On the Egyptian-American relations, Mubarak said they are strong and based on joint interests "though the Jewish lobby sometimes tries to trouble them." He cited the row triggered recently by the Israeli supporters over an arms deal between the U.S. and Egypt.