Barak: Up to Egyptians to find their way

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday it was up to the Egyptian people to find their way ahead according to the country's constitution.

Speaking to reporters after meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Barak was responding to a question about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's plan to remain in office while delegating powers to his vice president.

"It's up to the Egyptian people to find their way and to do it according to their own constitution, norms and practices," he said.

He declined to comment further but said he was not pessimistic about prospects for the Middle East peace process, despite the turmoil in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world.

"I am still optimistic," Barak said. "In spite of all the turbulence around us, we should look for opportunities within those difficulties rather than to spiral into a sense of too heavy uncertainty that paralyzes us from acting toward a better and more stable region."

Following Mubarak's speech, a senior government official told Ynet "Israel must prepare accordingly" to the new situation in Egypt.

Other officials in Jerusalem said the change may require an increase in the defense budget, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already instructed the relevant authorities to speed up the construction of a security fence along the border with Egypt.

Prior to Mubarak's speech, Netanyahu said he hoped whichever government ruled Egypt would respect the peace treaty the two countries signed in 1979.

The prime minister was quoted by Israel Army Radio as saying that the treaty, the first Israel had signed with an Arab country, was "an asset to the world, to the Middle East, to Israel and to Egypt."

Reuters contributed to this report

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