Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has told Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir it is impossible for Israel to maintain its occupation of Arab lands and expect peace in the Middle East.
"Let's be flexible if we want peace to prevail. You cannot keep the land and peace together. It would be impossible," Mubarak said, addressing Shamir, in an interview published Wednesday by the Financial Times newspaper."Mr. Shamir will get very angry when I speak very frankly. And I'm still telling him, Mr. Shamir, I'm not against him. But I cannot sit like this and he is saying no for land for peace, no for this, no for that.
"I can't understand Mr. Shamir frankly, nor his intentions," the Egyptian leader said.
Mubarak's comments reflected Egyptian frustration at Shamir's rejection last week of suggestions in a letter from President Bush to iron out Arab-Israeli differences on a proposed Middle East peace conference.
Shamir, who heads the most right-wing government in Israel's history, told Bush he remained opposed to Arab demands for a United Nations role in the conference. He also insists on a one-time conference without decisionmaking powers.
Mubarak, who has met Israeli opposition Labor party leader Shi-mon Peres several times, reiterated that he could not meet Shamir unless real progress was expected out of such a meeting.
"If it were to be well-prepared so that whenever we meet something would come out, I'll never hesitate to meet him."
Mubarak, echoing statements from Washington, criticized Israel's policy of building new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying it killed hopes of a peaceful solution.