The conditions for hosting a successful summit between Israel and the Palestinians were still not ripe, the official Egyptian news agency quoted Egypt's foreign minister as saying yesterday.
"Foreign Minister Amr Moussa announced that it does not appear that the necessary atmosphere for holding a four-party summit grouping [the Palestinian President Mr Yasser] Arafat and [the Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ehud] Barak had materialised yet," MENA reported.
Any four-party summit would also include President Bill Clinton and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
Egypt said on Thursday it would be willing to host such a summit if the violence in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and Israel stopped.
Washington had been weighing the possibility of a summit in Egypt as early as tomorrow.
In Cairo yesterday the most senior figure among the Sunni Muslim community urged worshippers to use all their might to defend Palestinians against Israel, and called on Muslims to cut all ties with the Jewish state.
About 10,000 worshippers attending Friday prayers with Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid Tantawy, of al-Azhar, poured into the streets after his sermon, calling for war with Israel.
"The sheikh of al-Azhar. . . condemned the Israeli invasion of Islamic holy sites and attacks on unarmed citizens," MENA said.
"He called on all Muslims to prepare themselves to face such an invasion, saying [the Koranic verse]: `Rally all the power that you can,' MENA said.
Sheikh Tantawy said the Egyptian government and citizens would continue to defend the Palestinian people with "all forms of defence", noting that Egypt had already "waged four wars for the sake of Palestine".
"The sheikh of al-Azhar called on believers to stand by the Palestinians, giving them all forms of support so they can resist the invasion. He affirmed that chanting slogans would not be useful. Only being firm would help," MENA said.
After Sheikh Tantawy spoke, thousands of worshippers went on the streets chanting anti-Israeli slogans and demanding a jihad against the Jewish state. Many carried Palestinian flags and shouted "there is no god but God, and the Jews are the enemies of God" and "with our soul and our blood we will save Palestine".
Police in riot gear surrounded the crowd, pushing back unruly protesters with their batons and dispersing the demonstrators.
After midday prayers at the Omar Makram mosque in central Cairo, worshippers tried to lead a demonstration to the nearby US embassy, but police kept them well away from the heavily fortified compound.