- PARIS (Reuters) -- Arabs
in the Middle East hate the United States more than ever following the
invasion of Iraq and Israel's assassination of two Hamas leaders, Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak said in comments published on Tuesday.
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- Mubarak, who visited the United States last week, told
French newspaper Le Monde that Washington's actions had caused despair,
frustration and a sense of injustice in the Arab world.
-
- "Today there is hatred of the Americans like never
before in the region," he said in an interview given during a stay
in France, where he met President Jacques Chirac on Monday.
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- He blamed the hostility partly on U.S. support for Israel,
which assassinated Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi in a missile strike
in the Gaza Strip on Saturday weeks after killing his predecessor, Sheikh
Ahmed Yassin.
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- "At the start some considered the Americans were
helping them. There was no hatred of the Americans. After what has happened
in Iraq, there is unprecedented hatred and the Americans know it,"
Mubarak said.
-
- "People have a feeling of injustice. What's more,
they see (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon acting as he pleases, without the
Americans saying anything. He assassinates people who don't have the planes
and helicopters that he has."
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- Israel says such killings are self-defense. But Mubarak
said the assassination of Rantissi could have "serious consequences"
and that instability in Gaza and Iraq would not serve U.S. or Israeli interests.
-
- "The despair and feeling of injustice are not going
to be limited to our region alone. American and Israeli interests will
not be safe, not only in our region but anywhere in the world," he
said.
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- Asked about Sharon's plan to pull out of Gaza, Mubarak
welcomed any withdrawal that was agreed with the Palestinians and in line
with a peace "road map" drawn up by the United States, the European
Union, the United Nations and Russia.
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