June  9, 2002

    Mubarak to CNN : US had a key role in ME peace process

    Interviewed by CNN Jonathan Mann of insight on Friday, President Mubarak said there must be commitment to establishing a Palestinian State, adding that the US had a key role to play in the Middle East peace process, in conjunction with the Arab countries in the region.

    President Mubarak said ongoing discussions on moving forward the peace process are included in the Saudi peace initiative, endorsed by the US and Arab countries.

    Asked about the role US President George W Bush could play in the Middle East peace process, President Mubarak said the US could play a major role, citing the success story of Washington's mediation between London and the IRA.

    The Egyptian leader went on to say that given the leverage of a country like the US, Washington was able to exercise pressure, step in and put an end to the problem in the Middle East.

    He added that only then could peace and security prevail with the help of the countries of the region, especially Arab countries.

    President Mubarak said he will brief president Bush on his vision of setting up a Palestinian State, ending the violence and halting the building of more illegal settlements, which Mubarak considered a ticking time bomb and an ever-present menace to the peace process.

    Calling for being realistic, President Mubarak said acts of violence would not stop unless the Palestinian and Israeli sides sit at the negotiating table.

    Drawn on reports on Egyptian, Israeli and American plans for setting up a palestinians State, President Mubarak said the focus is now on the Saudi initiative on establishing peace in the region.

    Speaking of the need for a political will, President Mubarak remembered that late Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin had pledged to go ahead with the peace process, and at the same time pursue the terrorists responsible for a Tel Aviv explosion then.

    On whether Israeli premier Ariel Sharon was combating terrorism in the Palestinian territories, much the same as Egypt had been fighting Islamists terrorists on its soil several years ago, President Mubarak disagreed, explaining that the difference lay in the fact that Sharon was occupying Palestinian land.

    Again taking issue with his anchor, Jonathan mann, on the point of dealing with terrorism as such, irrespective of whether it was for a just cause, and that the Islamists group in Egypt and the Palestinian Aqsa brigades were after all in the same camp, President Mubarak said all the Egyptian people had stood behind him in his confrontation with the Islamists group.

    Adding, he said that goings-on in the occupied Palestinian territories were a different matter, in terms of the existence of two states, two peoples and the occupation of-land by one of the two.

    On the US administration demanding a change in the Palestinian Authority to render it more capable of confronting terrorism and of becoming a true partner in negotiations, President Mubarak said Sharon had made a proposal in this regard, adding that the Palestinian authority could not be forced into change, as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had been elected by his people.

    President Mubarak cast doubt on the viability of any successor to Arafat at the present time, explaining that if someone was chosen, with Israel's blessings, other parties would act against the new leader.

    Responding to a question on repeated Israeli calls for exiling Arafat, President Mubarak warned of the dire consequences of such a step, drawing a dark picture of spiralling acts of violence against the US, Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

    President Mubarak believed that Ranaan Gisen, the spokesman for the Israeli government, displayed good understanding when he voiced opposition to expelling Arafat, as he perceived the kinds of problems that could ensue as a result.

    Asked if he would meet with Sharon in Washington, President Mubarak said Sharon had much time to spare, which he didn't.

    President Mubarak pointed out to his good relationships with several Israeli leaders, even when he was Vice-President, such as , Shimon Peres, and late Rabin, who, Mubarak regretted, had he lived for one or two more years, things would not have reached the current situation.

    Mubarak even had good contacts with former Israeli premiers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.