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Clinton Charges Sharon With Provoking The Intifada
WASHINGTON, May 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - On Wednesday, former U.S. president Bill Clinton in Austria charged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with provoking the Intifada by his visit to the Temple Mount last October, said the Austrian news agency.
Clinton, who made the remarks to reporters after speaking at a private conference in Vienna, criticized Sharon saying he should watch out should he become a security problem for his own country, confirming that the Middle East conflict was so dangerous compared with other crises because of the low standard of living of the Palestinian people.
However, he added that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat need not have responded to this provocation with violence and should have kept "radical Palestinian groups" under his control.
Trying to defend Sharon, former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday that it was not Sharon's visit that had caused the Intifada, but Arafat's policies.
"I'm sorry that Clinton couldn't understand what even the Mitchell Committee understood with regard to the causes of the Aqsa Intifada," said Netanyahu in a statement.
"Arafat's policy of using terror and violence is what caused the Intifada and the outburst of terror, and not the Sharon visit to the Temple Mount," said Netanyahu.
"Clinton would have done better to support Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in his battle against terror, rather than blame him."
Clinton, who had arrived by private plane to Vienna on Wednesday, was largely screened off from the public and was guarded by hundreds of police.
Clinton's remarks were given in a speech listened to by an audience of whom many had paid upwards of $1,000 for admission, were barred from publication by the Austrian newspaper hosting the conference until midday Thursday.
Clinton's brief visit to Austria ended Thursday, as he traveled on to Poland.
During a visit to Poland's capital Warsaw as part of a European speaking tour, Clinton was jeered by anti-globalization protesters and hit by an egg that struck his sleeve as he walked through the city's Old Town district.
Spokeswoman Jennifer Palmeri said that the president laughed at the matter, saying, "It's good for young people to be angry about something."
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