Sharon's hasty, uncalculated action will harm more it benefits

"President Hosni Mubarak is carrying out intensive contacts to mobilize the international community support in a bid to launch moves while warning of the dangerous deterioration in the Palestinian territories," said Osama El Baz, Egyptian Presidential Political Adviser on Sunday.

"Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher is holding contacts with his opposite numbers in influential states for the same purpose," Baz noted.

Queried about severing political contacts with Israel by the Arab Foreign Ministers on Saturday, Baz said Israel, not Arabs, was the party that froze moves with the Palestinians who were ready for creating a suitable atmosphere for negotiations but Israel blocked such movements so it had to blame nobody but itself.

And on the adherence of Cairo and Amman to such an Arab move, Baz said that there is no obligation on us to pursue a certain behaviour or make certain contacts, he said noting that when there is contact between two countries it is in the interest of specific issues and not merely for holding contacts.

"The decision by the Follow-up Committee to stop political contacts with Israel was a very clear message to Israel. I believe the echo of the message reached Israel even if it pretended otherwise," he said.

Queried about using US warplanes by Israel to strike at Palestinian targets, Baz said that the American position is subject to development as the US Administration is getting deeply involved in studying the Palestinian-Israeli issue.

"Israel suffers, as it lives in neither calm nor stability, and any hasty uncalculated action will harm more than it benefits," he said.

The "balanced and objective" Egyptian-Jordanian initiative is a common feature as regards the Arab position, he said, adding that both the interests of the Arabs and Israel were considered in the initiative.

"What proves that the initiative was balanced is that no country had any reservations regarding it except Israel," he said.

"Even the US sees the plan as a positive practice on the part of two states 'Egypt and Jordan' known for honouring their commitments," he added.