Mubarak 'wants honourable exit'

Hosni Mubarak realises he must step down and is looking for an honourable way out, a former Israeli defence minister has said.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of Israel’s Labour Party, said he spoke to Mubarak just hours before the Egyptian president’s speech late on Thursday in which he transferred some powers to his deputy but refused to quit.

Ben-Eliezer told Israel’s Army Radio: “He knew that this was it, that this was the end of the road. He was looking for only one thing – give me an honourable way out. Let me leave in an honourable fashion.”

Another former Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, who chairs an influential parliamentary defence committee, echoed Ben-Eliezer’s statement, saying Mubarak “wants to end it on his feet and not on his knees”.

Egypt signed a peace treaty with neighbouring Israel in 1979.

Israel is concerned that the disappearance of Mubarak, a long-time ally, could mean a breakdown of order in Egypt or the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest and best-organised opposition group, which is hostile to Israel.

Today some speeches by Egyptian protesters took on a tone increasingly critical of foreign influence, especially that of the US and Israel. One theme heard in speeches was that if Mubarak fell, Israel would be next.

“At this very moment in our area the balance of power is changing, and the situation is working against Israel,” Mofaz said. “Iranian radicalism is becoming stronger and improving its position.”

Another Israeli official, the former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky, sounded a note of optimism about events in Egypt. Israel was wrong to depend on a dictator to keep the peace and must encourage democracy, said Sharansky, who was released from a Soviet prison 25 years ago and now handles ties with Diaspora Jewry as head of the Jewish Agency.

“This is the moment for those Israelis who believe that peace has to be built bottom-up,” he told the daily Jerusalem Post. “This is a great moment. Let’s try to use it.”