CAIRO, April 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Wednesday, April 30, the United States against provoking religious or ethnic imbalance in Iraq or imposing democracy by force on the region, calling on Israelis and Palestinians to implement the international roadmap for peace.

"We call for the restoration of government institutions in Iraq as fast as possible ... without outside interference which would try to provoke religious or ethnic imbalance to serve foreign interests," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Mubarak as addressing the Egyptian people on the occasion of Labor Day.

The Iraqi people had the "right to choose their own political and social system," Mubarak said.

He said that in recent talks with Arab leaders they all agreed that "Iraq should be ruled only by the Iraqi people and that the United Nations and the Arab countries must play a vital role in returning the situation to normal in Iraq."

Mubarak said he was against this "false idea that some have, which holds that installing democracy in Iraq according to outside criteria would lead to the spread of democracy and reform in the Arab and Muslim world.

"We are for democracy but against imposing democracy by force."

Addressing the longstanding Middle East conflict, Mubarak urged both Palestinians and Israelis to apply as soon as possible the principles of the roadmap peace plan sponsored by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States.

"As I urge the Palestinian authorities to implement all its obligations under the roadmap, I advise Israel to realize that peace with Arabs is the only way to security and stability," he said.

Mubarak said Israel's policy of repression would only breed hatred against it.