President Hosni Mubarak said a just and comprehensive peace is the only key to stability in the Middle East region.

In statements to weekly October Magazine out Friday, Mubarak warned of the recent developments in Lebanon, saying they would have an impact on the entire region.
The Egyptian president reiterated his statements at the outset of the current crisis in which he said the war on Lebanon will put at stake the whole region.

Speaking to the weekly magazine, Mubarak said all regional and international parties fully understand that the dangerous situation in Lebanon could spark a regional war.

The president went on to say that in his statements he stressed the need to secure an urgent and unconditional ceasefire in the war-hit country.

As an Egyptian national and an Arab Mubarak said he felt very angry. What Lebanon and the Palestinian territories are currently experiencing is the immediate outcome of the Middle East peace stalemate, Mubarak said.

President Mubarak called in his interview with October Magazine on the US and other members of the international quartet on the Middle East to fully realise the fact that the peace process deadlock was the main cause of the current crisis.

This crisis could come to an end, but it would be followed by others, he expounded. Mubarak said he made this point clear in a message he sent to US President George Bush.

The developments in Lebanon endanger the future of the Middle East, he cautioned. Egypt backs the Lebanese government's amendments to the US-French draft UNSC resolution, he said.

Egypt's stances are not for outbidding, said Mubarak, adding that Egypt's support for Lebanon and the Lebanese was not for propaganda purposes.

Egypt was one of the first countries to extend a helping hand to Lebanon, he noted.

On an emergency Arab summit, Mubarak said consultations were under way in this respect. Egypt will back any plans to hold an Arab summit that could yield a positive outcome in support of Lebanon and meet the Arab peoples' aspirations, he said.

Responding to a question on the losses of the two warring parties in the Middle East, president Mubarak told the October weekly magazine the losses were immense.

There is a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, he said. Israel is also suffering heavy damage, not to mention economic losses. What is even worse for Israel is the aggravation of the feeling of hatred against it in the Arab and Muslim world, he explained.

No one could feel the scourge of war like those who have experienced it, like the Egyptian people, Mubarak said. What is happening now in Lebanon refreshes our sad memories of the inhabitants of the Suez Canal area who had to evacuate their homes after the 1967 war.

On the US stance, president Mubarak recalled his statements to Time Magazine when he termed the US reaction as slow and not enough.

Similar were the reactions of other UN Security Council permanent states, he told the Egyptian magazine.

The current crisis rings a warning bell for parties concerned to take action to revitalise the Middle East peace process as the only means to establish peace and stability in the region, he said.

On Arab joint defence agreement, Mubarak said the agreement has never been activated since it was inked in 1951.

An Arab chiefs of staff council was supposed to be established, but it has never happened, he said.

An Arab economic council was supposed to be also set up, but it has never happened either.

The president said he had to acquire the parliament approval to send troops to the Kuwait liberation war as he knew he had no constitutional covering.