EGYPT yesterday added its voice to worldwide condemnation of Israel's continued defiance over the building of the settlement in Jebel Abu Ghneim, near Jerusalem, known to Israelis as Har Homa. In markedly harsher language than usual, the President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, accused the Israelis of leading the Middle East into a new era of violence.
"If this settlement is built this will not be the end of the whole thing. It will be the beginning of a new era of violence which we would like to avoid," he told reporters.
"The use of force and arrogance, the arrogance of power, will never lead to a solution at all. The issue of Jerusalem will never be solved by the use of bulldozers. This only increases problems and hatred," he said.
This was the latest in a series of statements over the past few days by Mr Mubarak and his outspoken Foreign Minister, Mr Amr Moussa, criticising Israel for going ahead with the project.
Yesterday Mr Moussa said that Egypt no longer trusted the Israeli government when it talked about peace, and accused it of violating the peace process.
"I don't think that any credibility remains to the Israeli position or to any Israeli position that talks of peace, after [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu has embarked on these measures," he said.
As the most populous Arab state, and the first to sign a peace treaty with Israel some 20 years ago, Egypt has helped mediate between the various parties in the peace negotiations. Although relations between it and Israel have never been warm, they have grown distinctly cooler since Mr Netanyahu came to power last year.
"How can we normalise ties with Israel if they continue to kill our brothers?" President Mubarak said during an interview with an Israeli magazine yesterday.
Syria has also accused Mr Netanyahu of bringing the region to the brink of war by refusing to make peace with Damascus and building settlements in occupied Arab lands.