(AFP) – Dec 30, 2008

CAIRO (AFP) — President Hosni Mubarak Tuesday ruled out reopening Egypt's border with war-battered Gaza until representatives of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers are deployed at the crossing point.

Mubarak also hit back at critics of Cairo's response to the Israeli offensive, accusing them of playing politics with Palestinian suffering.

"We in Egypt are not going to contribute to perpetuating the rift (between the Palestinian Authority of Mahmud Abbas and Gaza's Hamas rulers) by opening the Rafah crossing in the absence of the Palestinian Authority and EU observers in violation of the 2005 deal," Mubarak said in a televised speech.

He was referring to an international agreement which Abbas signed with Israel when it withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.

The deal provided for EU observers to monitor the border and operate surveillance cameras to allow Israel to keep an eye on comings and goings.

It fell into abeyance when Hamas ousted forces loyal to Abbas from the gaza Strip in June last year.

Egypt has come in for strong criticism from the Islamists and their sympathisers around the Muslim world for not fully opening the border in the face of Israel's devastating four-day-old air blitz.

It has allowed a handful of wounded Gazans to leave for treatment and allowed some medical supplies in.

But on Sunday Egyptian police fired warning shots in the air to prevent large numbers of civilians fleeing Gaza.

Mubarak held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni just two days before the start of the offensive, sparking charges of collusion that have seen Egyptian diplomatic missions attacked in both Beirut and the Yemeni port city of Aden.

Mubarak insisted that he was totally opposed to the Israeli operation.

"We say to Israel that we reject and condemn its assaults which must cease immediately," he said in the speech broadcast on state television.

"We say to the (Israeli) leaders: you carry the responsibility for your barbarian aggression against the Palestinians, whatever pretext you use as justification. And we say to them: your bloodstained hands provoke feelings of intense anger," Mubarak said.

He added: "We say to our Palestinian brothers: restore your unity. We warned you several times that any refusal to renew the truce would push Israel to attack Gaza."

He was referring to a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas which Egypt brokered and which expired on December 19.

Mubarak hit out at Arab politicians such as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who have slammed his government's stance and called on the Egyptian people to take to the streets to change it.

"We say to those who are trying to make political capital out of the plight of the Palestinian people that Palestinian blood has a price," he said.

"We say loud and clear that Egypt is above such pettinesses and will not allow anyone to extend their influence over its affairs."

Lebanon, meanwhile, has tightened security around the Egyptian embassy in Beirut. The roads leading to the building have been blocked and the area surrounded by cement blocks and barbed wire.

A security official told AFP on condition of anonymity the measures were "preventative" in case of future protests in the area.

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