JERUSALEM, March 21 (IslamOnline) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sharply criticized the Egyptian position in Middle East talks saying the country was playing a "negative role" in the region, Israeli Army Radio said Wednesday.
"The Egyptian army is arming itself to a significant degree despite the lack of justifying threats," Sharon said while speaking to leaders of the U.S. Congress.
Sharon reportedly complained that Egypt, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, was "encouraging other Arab states to freeze relations with Israel."
The rightwing Israeli leader also said that Egypt's refusal to send back its ambassador to Tel Aviv was another reason why the U.S. should cut its aid to Cairo.
Egypt withdrew its ambassador last year in protest of the use of excessive force by the Israeli government against Palestinian civilians protesting Israeli encroachments on Muslim holy sites.
Israeli Army Radio said American officials promised Sharon to pressure Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak over his country's role in the Middle East when he comes to Washington early in April.
"[U.S. President George W.] Bush will pose difficult questions to Mubarak when he is in Washington," the radio said. "This will particularly also [effect] Egypt's role towards the re-integration of Iraq into the Arab world."
Egyptian diplomatic sources said Sharon's call to end U.S. aid to Egypt is the first by a head of state since Israel and Cairo signed the peace treaty in 1979, saying that Sharon wants Egypt to pressure Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to end the uprising against Israeli occupation.
U.S. military aid to Egypt, a country of 67 million, in the current fiscal year amounts to $1.3 billion, compared with $1.92 billion to Israel, a country of only five million. Economic aid totals $735 million and $960 million respectively.
Bush said Washington would "not try to force peace" on Israel and the Palestinians, though it would "facilitate peace".
Budh did not respond to a call by Sharon not to invite Arafat to Washington before the ongoing violence in the Palestinian territories stopped.
