ROME - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Saturday the entire Muslim world was concerned about Israel's illegal Jewish settlement construction in Palestinian territories, ANSA news agency reported.
Mubarak, who met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a visit in Rome, also denounced Israel's "attempts to assimilate Jerusalem."
Israel's continuation of settlement construction "worries not only the Palestinians but the entire Muslim world," Mubarak said.
The United States has demanded a complete freeze to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but Israel has so far balked at the call.
All Jewish settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on Arab land (mainly Palestinian), illegally occupied by Israel.
Around illegal 200,000 Jewish settlers are estimated to have moved into the dozen or so Israeli settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem.
There are about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers currently living in settlements the Palestinian West Bank.
The settlers adhere to radical ideologies and are extremely violent to almost-defenceless Palestinians.
Palestinian East Jerusalem has been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.
Under international law, neither East nor West Jerusalem is considered Israel's capital. Tel Aviv is recognised as Israel's capital, pending a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
East Jerusalem is considered by the international community to be illegally occupied by Israel, in contravention of several binding UN Security Council Resolutions.
In these resolutions, the United Nations Security Council has also called for no measures to be taken to change the status of Jerusalem until a final settlement is reached between the sides.
Declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital is an attempt to change this status, and is thus a violation of these Security Council resolutions.
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