UK official dubs Sharon 'cancer of Mideast'

[Carl Remick]

>[via Sid Shniad]
>
>The Jerusalem Post - September 23, 2001
>
>UK official dubs Sharon 'cancer of Mideast'
>
>By Douglas Davis
>
>London - A diplomatic storm has erupted here over the depiction of Prime
>Minister Ariel Sharon by an unnamed Foreign Office official as "the cancer
>at the center of the Middle East crisis."
>
>The comment, by a "senior British Foreign Office source," was quoted in a
>front-page article by the Guardian, which has consistently put Israel in 
>the
>frame when discussing the causes of this month's terrorist outrages in the
>United States.

This unnamed FO officer certainly doesn't use diplomatic language, but there 
is obviously no willingness in the Israeli government to acknowledge its 
provocative role here, no matter how sensitively stated.  The following is 
also the Guardian:

"The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is to meet the foreign secretary, 
Jack Straw, following a 15-minute phone call between Mr Sharon and the prime 
minister, Tony Blair.
Mr Sharon had earlier called off the meeting because of remarks Mr Straw 
made in an article for an Iranian newspaper.

"A meeting with Israel's president, Moshe Katsav, was also cancelled.

"The passage which caused offence said: 'One of the factors that helps breed 
terror is the anger that many people in the region feel at events over the 
years in the Palestinian territories.'"

[Full text:   
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,557778,00.html]

Carl

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