ROME: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Saturday the entire Muslim world was concerned about Israel s settlement construction in Palestinian territories, ANSA news agency reported.
Mubarak, who met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a visit in Rome, also denounced what he described as Israel s attempts to assimilate Jerusalem.
Israel s continuation of settlement construction worries not only the Palestinians but the entire Muslim world, Mubarak said.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in all of the West Bank including east Jerusalem to be illegal and a major impediment to a Middle East peace deal.
The United States has demanded a complete freeze to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, land the Palestinians want to turn into a future state. But Israel has so far balked at the call.
The fate of Jerusalem, with sites sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims, is one of the most sensitive issues in the decades-old Middle East conflict.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. It considers the entire city to be its eternal, indivisible capital.
The Palestinians want to make eastern Jerusalem the capital of their promised state. -AFP
