Mubarak: Israel will fail by its mistake
Lebanon-Israel, Politics, 7/17/2006

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak yesterday called for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, saying Israel must stop the fighting and destruction launched against defenseless Lebanese people.

"Israel must stop killing Lebanon's civilians and striking at its infrastructure," he told the press commenting on the deteriorating conditions along the Lebanese-Israeli borders.

Egypt does not reject holding an Arab summit in principle, but one must first agree on the points that are to emerge from the summit before its convocation, he said.

Israel will not emerge as a victor in this war, it will only create more enemies, he added.

Mubarak said Egypt started, immediately after the capture of the Israeli soldier in Gaza, contacts with Palestinians and Israelis to urge them to avoid taking any measure and to wait until Cairo intervened to settle the problem.

Egypt was so close to settling the problem of the abducted Israeli soldier in Gaza, he added.
Contacts involved Hamas, which promised implementation, but some parties intervened and impeded the matters, he said.

This led to Israel striking Gaza until the second problem concerning Hizbollah emerged, further complicating the situation, he added.

Egypt had been exerting strenuous efforts since the start of the Gaza problem and "we were on the verge of settling the problem until the intervention of other parties as I mentioned before," he said.

Mubarak said he telephoned Israel to "pause at and mull the step after the Hizbollah operation.

Israelis responded by saying that a cabinet meeting was to be held to determine and announce Tel Aviv's position on the matter, he said.

They told him the newly-formed Israeli government wanted its decision to conform with the state's political organs, he added.

Israelis, Mubarak told the press, asked to be given time to respond, but the situation escalated rapidly.

Egypt's efforts in this concern involved contacts with Syria to talk to Hizbollah, he added.

Iranians, on their part, "askedus to attend the emergency meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers" in Cairo on Saturday, he said.

Egypt's top concern is a peaceful end to the problem for fear of a deterioration of the situation in the region," he added.

But Israel started to strike while Egypt did not stop contacts with the Israelis more than once a day, he said.

"We told the Israelis that striking civilians is a mistake- especially since the Lebanese people are innocent and that they must stop their destruction of the infrastructure," he said.

The Israelis responded by saying that they were hitting Hizbollah's infrastructure, which caused further complication to the problem, President Mubarak added.

Asked about prospects of holding an Arab summit to discuss the Lebanon-Israel problem, Mubarak said he was not against convening an Arab summit, referring to the resolutions in Cairo.

Mubarak said he spoke to Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, telling him the Yemeni President had requested the convening of an Arab summit.

"Egypt has no objection, in principle, to the holding of this summit, but we must know what the summit will culminate in, or else it would be a mere gathering," he added.

One must first agree on specific points from which specific decisions will emerge, he said.
He also reaffirmed the need for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire since no party had the will to honour any condition except in the case of a ceasefire.

Mubarak called on the people of Lebanon to unite their ranks rather than splitting themselves into factions, which he said would have unforeseen repercussions.

The Lebanese government must exercise its control over all its lands and should any party carry out any act, it must consult with the state to avoid dragging it into the matter he said.
It should inform the state of all developments so that it could take the necessary precautions, he said.

On reports of having other countries dragged into the conflict, Mubarak said one must resort to wise judgment to transcend the current difficult situation.

He warned that embracing any rash notions could implicate the entire region in the quagmire.
The President called on advocates of activating a pan-Arab defence pact to read the agreement carefully, as the issue was not as simple as they believed, he added.
"Under the pact, continued consultation must be maintained at the level of foreign ministers on arriving at a peaceful solution.

Asked if the US had given Israel the green light to launch its attacks, the President said that all he knew was that the US had said Israel had the right to defend itself.

On prospects of Israel's response to a cease fire, Mubarak said whoever thinks he can benefit from war is mistaken. War inflames animosity towards Israel.

He expressed hope Israel would realize this and would resort to wisdom and halt the fighting to find a solution. Fighting does not solve the problem, the only way is negotiation, Mubarak said.

Previous Stories:
  Iranian official: those quite help Israel's aggression   (7/15/2006)
  Moussa: Peace is dead due to Israel's aggression   (7/15/2006)
  Hizbullah declares extensive war against Israel's aggressions   (7/15/2006)
  OIC condemns savage Israeli aggression in Lebanon   (7/15/2006)
  Indian Left strongly condemns Israel's aggression on Lebanon   (7/15/2006)
  Israel devising long-term attacks: Syrian observer   (7/15/2006)
  American-Arab calls for halt to Israeli military rampage   (7/14/2006)
  Norway condemns Israeli attacks on Lebanon   (7/14/2006)
  Lahoud stresses unity against Israel's aggressions   (7/14/2006)
  EU Presidency: Israel blockade of Lebanon against international law   (7/14/2006)
  European Parliament criticizes Israel's disproportionate response   (7/14/2006)
  Council of Europe: Israeli aggression on Lebanon inappropriate   (7/14/2006)
  Pakistan condemns Israel's attack on Beirut airport   (7/14/2006)
  Iran condemns Israeli attack on Lebanon   (7/13/2006)
  Israeli attack on Lebanon aimed at igniting Mideast war: German MP   (7/13/2006)

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