Mar  31, 2001

Mubarak calls for stopping violence

President Mubarak called on Palestinian and Israeli security organs to meet and stop violence so as negotiations between both sides start.

The President said in the interview to be telecast Saturday evening that if violence continues in this way, it would never end.

He warned that violence might lead to disasters in the area.

He said that despite recent events, there is still hope for bringing about peace. We should not lose hope in peace, he added.

Israel must stop all kinds of bloody acts because these will never bring about peace, president Mubarak said.

Violence must stop in order that negotiations can be re-started, the president said.

If violence continues from within, it can overspill and be conducive to catastrophes in the entire region, he said.

There is still room for peace and we should never loose hope.

We must act wisely in this difficult situation, he said.

Palestinian and Israeli security bodies must meet and find a solution so that the negotiation process may be set in motion, he said.

Asked on the kind of solution he envisages and how he sees the issue of international observers, president Mubarak said that the issue of the observers was raised at the Security Council but the dispatch issue was vetoed.

I do not want to speak of this now but if violence stops there will not be need for these troops, he said.

President Mubarak further said that the holy places, including Jerusalem, are occupied lands since 1967 and no one either Palestinian or Arab can relinquish Jerusalem or the holy areas.

Israel must realise this perfectly if it wanted peace, president Mubarak said.

Mubarak spoke of a post-peace scenario in which the situation would be restored to the pre-1967 years, with the Palestinians and Israelis moving freely and performing their religious rites at Al-Haram al-Sharif.

Asked what he would tell US President George w. bush when they meet in Washington on Monday, president Mubarak said he did not want the us to impose a specific solution on the Palestinians or Israelis, just as Cairo would not impose on the Palestinians.

We should rather work in cooperation with the US and Jordan on narrowing the gap between the two sides: leaving them to take the decision, he said.

President Mubarak made it clear that American interests in the Middle East would bear the brunt of any further deterioration of the situation in the region.

On prospects for the new US Administration to ease the sanctions on Iraq, president Mubarak voiced qualified belief that the US would find some sort of vent or phased solution in this regard.

Mubarak recalled that he told us secretary of state Colin Powell in Cairo that it was high time the existing sanctions regime on Iraq was changed, in view of the fact that the Iraqi people were bearing the full brunt of the sanctions.

On whether he believed that Europe, particularly France, was still capable of undertaking a positive role in the regional peace process, President Mubarak said that Europe’s closeness to the Middle East made it quite susceptible to any negative developments in the region.

I believe that Europe still has a role to play in the Mideast peace process, he said, adding that Europe had been exerting great efforts in the past with the administration of former us president Bill Clinton.

The European role is important and complements that of the US, he said, adding that regional parties should also join in the effort, given their day-to-day knowledge of the state of affairs.