Egypt working hard to treat serious, acute Mideast crisis

Egypt is doing its utmost together with the U.S., E.U., Russia and the Palestinian and Israeli parties to rectify the grave and acute status of the Palestinian people in the occupied lands, the President's political advisor said.

The current situation is very serious and efforts are being exerted to heal the rift, Osama el Baz told Radio Cairo Wednesday.

He urged Israel to stop the violence and the military escalation against the Palestinians and to implement the Mitchell recommendations for the sake of peace.

The Europeans are very interested in ending the bloodshed and the violence and improving the situation in the occupied Palestinian lands so that Palestinians could lead a normal life, he said.

It is illogical to ask the Palestinians to end the violence at a time Israel practices violence too, he added.

Asked on the language of war Israel has been using, he said: "We are still distant from this, war is not a simple operation, but a very complicated one and with very serious repercussions on all."

Israeli threats must be dealt with firmly, he added.

He dismissed accusations that Egypt had violated the Arab follow up committee resolutions by receiving Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Sunday terming them as untrue and baseless.

Egypt's role has to be extended to serve the Palestinian side, by intervening to talk to Israelis, Americans, Europeans and others, he said.

Should we leave the Palestinians face Israel all alone? he questioned.