CAIRO, (PIC)-- Dr. Mohammed El-Baradei, former head of the international atomic energy agency and one of the prominent contenders for the Egyptian presidential elections in 2011, said that the Palestine cause was passing through its worst stages.

He told the PIC in an interview on Monday that the Palestinian cause is plagued by Israeli violation of holy Islamic shrines, settlement expansion in Jerusalem and building of synagogues in addition to the internal Palestinian division.

He stressed that the Palestinian people under such escalation along with siege has no other option but to adopt resistance, which he described as a legitimate right guaranteed by all laws for peoples under occupation.

El-Baradei said that Israel only understands the language of force, adding that the Arabs should back their negotiations option with force and deterrence.

However, Israel knows quite well that the Palestinian division and the Arab slackness allows it to tamper with the peace process, the presidential hopeful said, adding that peace has turned into a silly joke. "We have been talking about peace for the past 20 years but no progress is witnessed in the Palestine cause," he elaborated.

El-Baradei, shifting to another issue, said that the construction of the steel wall under the borders between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has harmed Egypt's reputation since it was understood as a participation in the siege on Gaza.

He said that the logical solution to that issue was closing tunnels, and opening crossings and establishing a free trade zone in Rafah where Palestinians would go to buy their needs then return to Gaza.

For his part, Egyptian political science professor at Cairo University Dr. Hasan Nafa'a said that the Egyptian construction of the steel wall primarily targeted pressuring Hamas movement, which is ruling Gaza, to accept certain policies.

He told the PIC on Monday that the Egyptian leadership was cornering Hamas into signing the Egyptian-proposed Palestinian reconciliation paper.