Israel's demands for a new Palestinian leader and its occupation of Palestinian territories will only fuel violence and extremism, Egypt's president said Monday. Hosni Mubarak's warning to Israel came during a speech at a Cairo military academy marking the 50th anniversary of the coup that toppled Egypt's British-backed monarchy.
"Israel will gain nothing while hiding behind its demand to change a leadership chosen by the Palestinian people's own free will or if it lingers to occupy the land, shed the blood, destroy houses and block the roads," Mubarak said during the nationally broadcast celebrations attended by Egypt's top brass and visiting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Mubarak said Israel's "policy will only result in favoring violence over the voice of moderation and will only gain the propagation of hatred and the escalation of enmity and extremism."

Israel and the United States have been pushing for the ouster of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. President Bush has said U.S. support to establish a Palestinian state is dependent on a change in the Palestinian leadership.

Mubarak said Israel's best chance for achieving regional security and peace was to negotiate to establish an independent Palestinian state.

He said Israel should not "waste the historic chance that exists to end the (Middle East) dispute and fighting and enter a new stage where people face the challenges of development and progress."

Mubarak's speech came during celebrations marking the July 23, 1952 coup led by a group of Egyptian military officers, including the late Gamal Abdel Nasser, which toppled the monarchy and inspired pan-Arab nationalism. Nasser went on to become Egypt's second president in 1956.

Gadhafi took control of Libya in a 1969 coup and has championed similar pan-Arab policies to Nasser. He proposed the Federation of Arab Republics, a short-lived alliance between Libya, Egypt and Syria, which was established in 1972.

The Egyptian leader presented Gadhafi and Zakariah Mohiedin, one of the surviving "Free Officers" who helped stage the 1952 coup, with medals.

PHOTO CAPTION

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak talks to journalists after the meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and United Arab Emirates' Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the hotel Intercontinental in Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday, 20 July, 2002. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)