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EGYPT STEPS UP WAR RHETORIC AGAINST ISRAEL


CAIRO [MENL] -- The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has escalated threats of a Middle East war.

Senior aides of Mubarak have warned Israel of the prospect of war should the Jewish state attack the Palestinian Authority. The aides asserted that the Egyptian military is ready for any prospect, including a war with Israel.

"The Egyptian armed forces ready to deter aggression," Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi said."They are ready to carry out instructions."

The escalation in rhetoric began last week on the eve of the commemoration of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war in which Egypt lost the Sinai peninsula to Israel. Egyptian officials were quoted in the state-run media as vowing that Cairo will not be again defeated in a war with Israel.

Ibrahim Saada, editor-in-chief of the state-owned Al Ahram and regarded as a spokesman for Mubarak, said in an article entitled"War or Peace" that Egypt is ready to confront any danger to its borders and for any operation ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Samir Ragab, another confidante of Mubarak, agreed. Ragab said the Egyptian defeat in 1967 was because of the rivalry between the military and government. Under Mubarak, Ragab said, that rivalry has been eliminated.

"The recurrence of the 1967 debacle is remote for a host of reasons," Ragab said."The Egyptian army is constantly kept in excellent shape in terms of training and armaments. It is prepared for any eventuality. The 1967 defeat is blamed on the then military establishment which was distracted from its key role by the pursuit of personal gains. The situation is entirely different now."


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