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Thursday, October 18, 2001
Mubarak added that Blair-Arafat meeting could be prelude for a meeting between Arafat and US President, confirming that Israeli implementation of Mitchel recommendations would mean resuming negotiations, and lifting the siege imposed on the Palestinians is the most urgent necessity. The President also stressed that Egypt is clean of terrorist groups, hailing the efforts exerted by security systems, intellectuals and the whole Egyptian people against terror. Mubarak also praised the courageous stance of religious scholars, men of letters, thinkers, writers and media men against terrorism. Mubarak noted that uprooting terrorism means stability that, in turn, means progress and development, adding that today’s’ Egypt is safer than ever. As for the Palestinian cause, President Mubarak said he believes that leaving this issue unresolved accounts for more than 50% of the reasons behind terrorism, elaborating that this percentage may amount to 80% and that failure of US policy in dealing with the Middle East crisis and oppression of the Palestinians are among these reasons. “Leaving this issue unresolved provokes Arab and Islamic worlds anger. So, the ongoing war against Afghanistan must go in parallel with an active and serious action for finding a solution to the Palestinian cause,” Mubarak remarked. President Mubarak also noted that the meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat would be a prelude for a Bush-Arafat meeting. Moreover, Mubarak said that Old Jerusalem should be under Palestinian control and that space and potentials of the state of Palestine will be defined through Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. "Nobody in the Arab and Islamic world would accept that Old Jerusalem will be under any non-Palestinian sovereignty," said the President. "After the establishment of the state of Palestine, no fences or barriers will separate the Palestinians and the Israelis so that the two peoples can co-exist," he pointed out. Mubarak said he believes that the US would not take any military actions against Syria, Libya or Lebanon. The President concluded that he told US President Bush that striking Syria, Lebanon or Libya would get the US to more complicated problems and that any such strikes would increase the rage of Arab street. |
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