BACK TO BUSINESS: President Mubarak may have curtailed his schedule since 19 November, when he interrupted his inaugural speech to parliament, but the week of rest advised in the wake of a severe bout of flu is now over, reports Gamal Essam El-Din .

In his first public appearance following the brief health scare, at Eid Al-Fitr prayers in the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, a relaxed Mubarak told reporters on Tuesday that he was worried that "the deteriorating situation in Palestine and Iraq might give impetus to more terrorist acts in the region." In an implicit criticism of the US and Israel Mubarak added that "the use of force was of no avail in eradicating terrorism."

"Terrorist acts will disappear only when injustice and the invasion of land stops," he said. But "conditions in Iraq have to stabilise first before a leadership there takes over," he warned, and any immediate withdrawal of coalition forces could leave Iraq in a state of chaos and civil war.

Cairo is expected to see a flurry of diplomatic activity next week: there will be a meeting of Palestinian factions in a bid to find a way to end the spiral of violence, and Mubarak is scheduled to meet with US Middle East special envoy William Burns, the President of Yemen Ali Abdallah Saleh and the President of Eritrea Assiasi Afwerki.

photo: Mohamed Abdel-Fattah