Head of the National Council for Human Rights Dr Botrous Ghali on Tuesday accused the US of putting the whole world under its thumb while cuddling Israel which is following a policy of intransigence and arrogance in the Mideast region.

In an interview with the Egyptian opposition newspaper Al Wafd, former UN Secretary-General Botrous Ghali spoke of the new Qana massacre that took place few days ago and said it was similar to the first Qana carnage of 1996 in which over 100 people, the majority being women and children, were killed.

"In my capacity as secretary-general of the world organization at that time, I instantly dispatched a military mission to the area to stand on the situation. I did not wait for a UNSC resolution, he said.

The mission in its report said openly and bluntly the aggression was deliberate, he added. If I were the UN Secretary-General now I would have taken the same stance as the one had taken regardless of pressure and threats, he said. Israel advised me against publishing the report but I refused, Ghali said.

Later they advised me to issue a verbal report only but again I refused and sent the report to the UNSC, he added.

He further said in their new aggression on Qana, the Israelis are using the same old scenario. He added but most likely this time no military commission will sent to the area and most probably the probe into this new massacre will be made by an Israeli fact finding commission, he said.

Ghali said that the current war waged by Israel against Lebanon aims at providing different factions against Hezbollah. The former UN Secretary-General criticized the world's silence on the ongoing Mideast developments. It seems that the entire world is in a state of indifference vis-à-vis them, he said.

This indifference is attributed either to the September 11 events, following which the world countries developed an Islamic phobia, or perhaps to the fact that the world states have had it with the Mideast issue, he added.

Ever since the visit of late President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem in 1977 the world countries have been working on the issue and waited for a last settlement, he said. But now with these new developments it seems the issue will be handed over to coming generation to settle, he added.

Asked about the call to suspend or freeze the Camp David accords, Dr Ghali said that abrogating the accords needs close scrutiny to assess whether such a step will benefit or harm Egypt. Before giving any opinion it would be better to mull carefully such a call, he said