(Haaretz).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand in a key speech Sunday that Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people "scuttles the chances for peace," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Monday.
Mubarak made the comments in a speech to Egyptian army commandos, the state-run MENA news agency reported.
The president said he had informed Netanyahu of his position, according to which Israeli-Palestinian peace talks must be renewed from the point at which they were broken off, and that the call for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state would only complicate matters.
"You won't find anyone to answer that call in Egypt, or in any other place," Mubarak was quoted as telling the troops.