Mubarak: Nations paying for 'resistance'
Egyptian president says 'Palestinian and Lebanese resistances brought only limited gains'; Saudi Arabia criticizes Hizbullah
Voices in the Arab world are condemning Hizbullah: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has called on the Lebanese government to take control of its border with Israel.
"The Lebanese government must apply its sovereignty on all the country's territory," said Faisal.
Since the start of the war, Saudi Arabia has criticized Hizbullah, as have Egypt and Lebanon.
"We support the spreading out of Lebanese forces along all of the territory of the country. The decision of war on peace depend on sovereign countries and not on any other entity, otherwise there will be chaos here," Faisal said during a press conference held on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia has been criticizing Hizbullah for a week, as well as Iran which is backing it, saying that "elements in Lebanon, and those standing behind them, are responsible for the Israeli attacks."
The Saudi government is concerned over Iranian involvement in Iraq and its nuclear arms program, and its anti-Hizbullah stance has awoken a stormy argument in the Arab world, most of which attacks the Israeli-American connection.
Hizbullah slammed
But Saudi Arabia is not the only one publicly condemning Hizbullah, with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon taking the same stances.
In an interview published by the state-controlled newspaper in Egypt al-Watan al-Yom, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that the activities of "Palestinian and Lebanese resistance fighters obtained only limited gains and that the people were paying the price."
"No one is doubting the rights of the people to resist the powers of occupation but the resistances must make considerations of losses and gains… the inflaming of the situation to make limited gains ignores the basic goal of the Palestinians which the establishment of an independent state," he said.
"The Israeli escalation in Lebanon drags the whole area into a dangerous slow and the Lebanese nation, like the Palestinians, is the one paying the price," Mubarak said.
Behind the scenes, King Abdullah of Jordan condemned Hizbullah, and together with Mubarak called its actions 'adventurous' during a meeting with Mubarak last Friday.
The Lebanese anti-Syrian coalition, led by Saad al-Hariri, also attacked Hizbullah.
Referring to Hizbullah, Hariri said in an interview to Saudi newspaper Okaz: "These adventurers put us in a difficult situation because of their irresponsible adventurism. The Saudi stance personified the situation without beautifying it and we support this stance because we have had enough of attempts to obtain more, of slogans that don't help."
News agencies contributed to the report
