Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said he would not shake new Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman's hand if he encountered him at a meeting, state news agency MENA reported on Thursday.

Lieberman, a far right member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau's new government, once said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak could "go to hell" if he did not visit Israel.

"He is a man who ought to reconsider how his brain communicates with his tongue," said Abul Gheit, according to a transcript of an interview with Egyptian TV published by MENA.

"As long as Lieberman's position stays the same I will, should I encounter him at a meeting, merely look at him," Abul Gheit said. "Of course, my hand will remain in my pocket."

Lieberman on Wednesday said that the government is not bound by the agreement reached at the Annapolis conference in the US in 2007, which provides for a Palestinian state.

The roadmap is an international peace plan under which Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state.

Lieberman had also suggested bombing Egypt's Aswan dam in the event of war between the two countries, at peace since 1979.

Lieberman's anti-Arab rhetoric has alarmed Palestinians as well as Arab leaders in the region.


Agencies