Egypt's Mubarak condemns Israel raid

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak firmly condemned Israel’s raid into the West Bank today as he met with Israeli premier Ehud Olmert in a summit aimed reviving the long-stalled peace process.

Hours before the summit began a new outbreak of violence between Israel and the Palestinians and a surge of intra-Palestinian fighting threatened to overshadow the nascent peace efforts.

“Israel’s security cannot be achieved through military force but by serious endeavours toward peace,” Egypt’s state-run news agency, MENA, quoted Mubarak as telling Olmert during their meeting.

The Egyptian leader also called for “the immediate halt of all acts of violence and any practices that will impede (Egyptian) efforts” to bring peace, MENA said.

Earlier Israeli troops, backed by armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers, raided the West Bank city of Ramallah, sparking a gunbattle that killed three Palestinians and wounded 25 others.

Four people, including a senior Palestinian security officer, were also killed as a new round of fighting between Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and prime minister Ismail Haniyeh’s Hamas group erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.