Mubarak accuses U.S.
of dismissing Arabs

By WND Staff

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused the U.S. of launching a war on terrorism to serve Israeli interests and goals at the expense of Arabs and Muslims, in a Labor Day speech on Egyptian television reported by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Mubarak said the Arab and Islamic peoples expected that after the U.S. and its coalition – which included Middle East countries – succeeded in the war in Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli conflict would be solved through negotiations, based on promises made by international powers.

Those powers, including the U.S., were capable of fulfilling their promises, “but what actually happened is a sudden change in the path of war against terrorism,” Mubarak said. “And I fear that it begins to threaten its credibility and the belief of our Arab and Islamic nations. …”

The Egyptian president said international efforts focused only on the security side, which resulted in “leading the campaign against terrorism to a new direction that aims at achieving political gains for Israel at the expense of the Arab and Islamic countries and attempting to destroy the legitimate Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.”

Mubarak said the aim of the Israeli campaign against the Palestinian areas is “to intimidate the Palestinian people and suppress its resistance against the occupation.”

He affirmed that the Palestinian resistance will continue as long as the “occupation” exists.

Mubarak called on international parties, especially the United States, to assert their role in pressuring Israel to stop its attacks on the Palestinians and accept resumption of negotiations.

Mubarak also criticized Arab satellite television channels, which he did not name, and accused them of spreading a spirit of hatred and dissension between Arabs. He said the satellite channels are not used to attack countries other than those in the Arab world.

“Do you hear, except in our Arab world, that the European satellite channels are used for … European countries [to] attack one another?” he asked. “But our channels are used to sow dissension and hatred between the Arab countries and affect only the Arab Nation.”

Egypt’s mass media has criticized Al-Jazeera, accusing it of targeting the Egyptian leadership and attacking its policies.