Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Wednesday that Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem is unacceptable but that Egypt is advising the Israelis as well as the Palestinians.
"No one can accept Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem or Al-Aqsa mosque," Islam's third holiest shrine, he told university students in Alexandria.
"The Jerusalem issue is delicate, complicated and serious. I'm not imposing a certain point of view on the Palestinians, and I'm not pushing them to anything.
"But we are providing them with advice, as we provide the Israeli with advice to bring their positions closer together," he said.
Turning to US-Egyptian relations which have had their ups and downs over the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Mubarak said: "Our ties with the United States are deep and unaffected by differences" over certain political issues.
After the Israeli-Palestinian summit at Camp David ended July 25th without an agreement, Washington criticized Mubarak for pressuring Palestinian President Yasser Arafat not to show flexibility at the summit, according to the US press.
Mubarak also said he hoped that the Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council will "make the right decision" during its meeting at the beginning of September on the declaration of a Palestinian state.
Arafat has said the state would be declared September 13th, but amid lack of international support for the unilateral move doubts have since been raised about that date - ALEXANDRIA (AFP)
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