No war in the region as Israelis allege

The Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stressed the importance of dispatching international observers to the Palestinian territories.

President Mubarak, in a press conference before leaving Rome, said his talks with Italian President Carlo Ciampi and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, covered the decision adopted by the G-8 summit on approving the deployment of international observers to the occupied territories.

President Mubarak stressed the importance of the decision taken by the G-8 summit to send international observers to monitor the implementation of the Mitchell plan in occupied Arab territories.

President Mubarak said there is no doubt that the presence of observers in occupied Arab territories will help monitor the situation accurately and define who is the aggressor in order to evaluate the situation in a continual manner.

"We do not know the aggressor but the observers will be able to define the true picture in order to bring the side which commits aggression to account,' the President said.

President Mubarak added that observers would provide the means to define responsibility in the light of which contacts could be made to cool the situation.

He said he was convinced of the importance of the presence of observers as soon as possible.

The President added: "The Jews want the observers to be American. We say that whatever the nationality of observers is, the important thing is their presence to know the true situation and help the peace process."

In reply to a question from Middle East News Agency (MENA) on the President's evaluation of the plan of action drawn up by the G-8 for Africa, president Mubarak said: "I believe that the recommendations of the summit on the Genoa project for Africa is important and fruitful."

The important thing is to activate it. These issues were tackled before but they lack urgent and practical execution.

As regards the role Italy is to play to move the peace process in the Middle East, President Mubarak said that Italy is a European country of weight in the area. It has cooperation with many Arab countries and has contacts with European countries.

"I believe the role which Italy can play with the European group could help in the peace process in the Middle East because the situation is deteriorating and we fear that if it was left as it is conditions in the area could be worse and then nobody can control the Palestinians or the Israelis," President Mubarak said.