Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak described himself as shocked by President George W. Bush's endorsement of an Israeli initiative to keep major parts of the West Bank and said it may lead to increased Middle East violence, according to an interview published on Friday.
"Now we don't know what is going to happen," Mubarak told the Houston Chronicle. "I'm afraid there is going to be more escalation of tension, much more violence."
Mubarak, who has stayed in Houston during a five-day US visit, said he expressed Arab concerns about the Israeli plan in a meeting on Monday with Bush at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, but had no idea the US president would take a position so supportive of Israel.
Bush on Wednesday backed a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza Strip while making permanent Israel's largest West Bank settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians.
The initiative also would deny Palestinian refugees the right to return to what is now Israel.
Bush's support for the plan will make it difficult for the US to serve as a neutral broker as it tries to promote the "road map" to peace that calls for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, Mubarak said.