Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's announcement that he will step down after elections later this year is "an act of deception" and won't satisfy the demands of those protesting against his 29-year rule, according to opposition leader and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

"Nobody is satisfied with that, nobody is ready to be naive, not see a ploy," Mr. ElBaradei told a small group of journalists in an interview. "It's an act of deception to me."

He said Mubarak needs to leave Egypt in order to bring an end to the mass demonstrations calling for him to step down.

"Once he's out of the country" the demonstrators will go home, Mr. ElBaradei said.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)

Mr. Mubarak said Tuesday that he wouldn't run in the next election and called for constitutional reforms, opening the door for opposition groups and his regime to square off for control of the country's future. Mr. ElBaradei has emerged as a leader of a loose coalition of opposition forces that includes the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. ElBaradei warned against acts of violence by government supporters, such as those taking place in the central Tahrir Square in Cairo on Wednesday. He said attacks on demonstrators by Mubarak supporters would make it difficult to conduct negotiations with "a regime that is a bunch of thugs."

Mr. ElBaradei said that the Muslim Brotherhood needs to be involved in any caretaker government as Egypt moves toward democracy. He said the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood wants to establish an "extremist state" in Egypt is a "bogus fiction".

Mr. ElBaradei didn't respond directly to a question about whether he would support Egypt 's peace treaty with Israel if he ends up replacing Mr. Mubarak as president. But he said that Egypt 's foreign policy has failed and needs to change.

"Well, I'm not a president but I tell you that our foreign policy needs to be completely realigned. I mean the foreign policy right now is quite a failure," he said. "And I think whether Egypt has an authoritarian system or whether Egypt has a democracy, there are still issues to be settled with the Palestinians."

But Mr. ElBaradei said this doesn't necessarily mean that Egypt would turn its back on the peace treaty with Israel if it holds free elections. "This was one of the fictions -- that a democratic Egypt would mean that Egypt would be hostile with Israel ," Mr. ElBaradei said.

"The peace treaty, or a peace between Israel and the Arab world, will definitely be a durable one if it is concluded between democracies and not dictators," Mr. ElBaradei said.

He said he is proposing the abolishing of Egypt 's current constitution and the dissolving of the national assembly. Going forward, he is suggesting the creation of a three-person presidential council, including a representative from the military, followed by the formation of a caretaker government of technocrats to prepare for free elections.

Mr. ElBaradei said Egypt would need a provisional constitution for a period of a year "while we prepare the ground for a new democratic constitution and have a free and fair election."

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