Israel's peace treaty with Egypt has been described as "a national security threat" by one of the frontrunners for the Arab country's presidency.

Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh said that the 1979 peace agreement, brokered a year before at Camp David between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, should be revised.

He has said Israel is an enemy and a "racist state" and complained during an interview on the CBC satellite station that the peace treaty prevented Egypt from exercising full sovereignty in the Sinai.

Mr Abul Fotouh, who is leading in the polls ahead of the May 23 election, also accused the US of state terrorism for the assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden a year ago.

Israelis will be watching nervously across the border for the election result, which is expected to go to a run-off vote in June.

The main secular candidate, former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, has also criticised Israel's actions as a "national security issue" for Egypt.

It has been 15 months since then-president Hosni Mubarak was forced out by Arab Spring protesters, toppling the Egyptian establishment and undermining the stability of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbour.