Talk Like An Egyptian

From Version I to Version II:-

Before Mr Peres's arrival, Mr Mubarak claimed Israel was responsible for the failure of attempts to resume peace talks.

"I will use words that are not open to interpretation," he said. "Israel is destroying the opportunity for peace, with its plans to populate Jerusalem with Jews and excavate around the al- Aqsa Mosque."

(that was I)

At a news conference yesterday following the talks with Mr Peres, Mr Mubarak said: "I expressed my concern to President Peres that peace talks have not progressed since our last meeting in July, and that Egypt is looking forward to an Israeli response, such as halting the building of settlements in east Jerusalem."

(that was II)

And let's address the Jerusalem issue:

...Mr Peres addressed the issue raised by Mr Mubarak regarding the al-Aqsa Mosque, which is part of the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem's Old City.

"I want to send a clear message to the Arab world - we have no intention of building on the Temple Mount. We respect the Muslims, and I am sorry for the frequent rumours and lies."

Pay Attention to Obama's Commitment to Human Rights

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak left an Oval Office meeting with President Obama on Tuesday claiming that the U.S. administration has committed to presenting a comprehensive blueprint for Middle East peace talks next month - a characterization the White House disputed.

Mr. Mubarak's first trip to the United States in six years focused on the effort to restart talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. But the visit by Mr. Mubarak, 81, also raised questions from critics about whether the White House has abandoned attempts begun by the George W. Bush administration to challenge the aging leader on human rights and democratic governance inside his country.

When Was The Last Time You Listened to Mubarak, Carefully

From an interview with Dr. Michael Widlanski:

In a major New Year's Eve address on December 30, Mubarak criticized Hamas for goading Israel into the kind of military action which would hurt Hamas and all Palestinians, but he justified Hamas attacks, while excoriating Israeli "aggression" no less than 11 times in a ten-minute speech.

"I say honestly and with full conviction that the right of resisting the occupation is a solid and legal right, but the resistance must be responsible before its people," said Mubarak, using the term "the resistance"—al-muqawwima in Arabic—to describe Hamas. [In Arabic Hamas is an abbreviation for Harakat al-Muqawwima al-Islamiyya –The Islamic Resistance Front.]

Like the late Yasser Arafat, who never condemned the suicide bomb attacks of Hamas or his own Fatah organization, Mubarak is basically saying that the attacks themselves are okay and legitimate, but that they bring Israeli reprisals.

For Mubarak, like for Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, the current head of the PLO, such attacks are not immoral, but only "counter-productive."

Mubarak did not explain why attacking Israel with rocket fire on cities or bomb-carrying infiltrators was a form of "resistance" even after Israel troops had completely withdrawn from Gaza, evicting all Israeli citizens with them.