Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak slammed Hamas and Iran in a speech delivered on Wednesday, and suggested that Hamas was responsible for the recent fighting in Gaza Strip against Israel. "Why did the resistance factions object to our attempts to prolong the ceasefire? And why did they not heed our warnings that their positions constitute an open invitation for an Israeli assault? Was this planned and deliberate? For whose benefit?" Mubarak asked.
Hinting at the Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Lebanon's Hizbullah chief, the Egyptian leader said, "For how long will Arab blood be shed, only to listen to those who admit their mistakes later, because they didn't calculate Israel's response correctly; and to those who wave resistance slogans over the corpses of casualties, the ruins, and the destruction?"
"The resistance does not entail slogans that disparage the lives of casualties and that deal in the blood of the injured or the suffering of innocent civilians," Mubarak added.
Mashaal admitted at the end of the three-week Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip during closed meetings that he did not anticipate the scope of Israel’s operation. Similar statements were expressed by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the end of the Lebanon War between Israel and Hizbullah in 2006.
Continuing his criticism, Mubarak noted said, "I have stressed this before and I will say it again, the resistance must face the cost-benefit test. It must be responsible towards the nations that judge it on the merits of the benefits it has brought for their problems alongside the casualties, the pain, and the destruction it has caused."
Directing his words towards Iran, Mubarak stated, "The recent crisis has exposed an attempt to exploit the Israeli aggression in order to impose a new reality on the Palestinian and Arab arena – a new reality that will stack the cards in favor of a well-known regional force, Iran, for the benefit of its plans and agenda." According to Mubarak, the goal of Tehran's involvement in the conflict was "to take away the Palestinian Authority's legitimacy in order to bestow it on the factions and Hamas."
Mubarak said the proof of this was Hamas' idea to establish an alternative authority to the PLO. "The aim was the widening of the rift between the West Bank and Gaza. Otherwise, why are they now discussing a new Authority for the Palestinian people?" he asked.
Mubarak also hinted that he rejects calls to halt efforts to advance the Saudi peace initiative, which offers Israel normalized relations with the Arab world in exchange for Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders. “Egypt made peace publicly with Israel, and some of those who criticize us maintain warm relations with Israel behind closed doors, and others dearly desire peace with Israel,” Mubarak said.
