JERUSALEM — Following a personal request by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met late Tuesday night with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who enraged the country’s leadership on Monday by intimating that Israel is to blame for Palestinian terror because of its actions in the territories.
A spokesman for Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said that in a telephone conversation with Blair, Sharon expressed Israel’s “anger and disappointment” with Straw’s earlier comments made in Iran.
“There is no difference between terror and terror,” Sharon said. “Murder is murder. There are no good terrorists; every act of terror is an atrocity.”
Straw, in a statement issued in Tehran before his visit here said, “I understand that one of the factors which helps breed terrorism is the anger which many people in this region feel at events over the years in Palestine.”
Straw attempted to clarify his comments a bit, telling reporters that “I stand very firmly against the terrorism which the Israeli people have suffered. I’ve never, ever dreamed of calling the Israeli people terrorists. I stand fully behind them.”
One senior Israeli diplomatic official said that “any self-respecting enlightened country would have declared Straw persona non grata after his comments. Could you imagine what would have happened had an Israeli minister gone to Britain and justified the IRA by saying that its actions are the result of the British treatment of the Catholics?”
President Moshe Katsav canceled his scheduled meeting with Straw because of these comments, and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres — who did met Straw Tuesday night — canceled a dinner that was to be held in his honor.
Peres, in his meeting with Straw, referred to his visit to Tehran and said Iran funds and directs Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. Furthermore, he said, Iran calls publicly for the destruction of Israel.
Peres said that these weapons, in the hands of extremist ayatollahs for whom the ends justify the means, are “a danger to the entire world.”
Relating to Straw’s comments about “breeding terror,” Peres said that nothing justifies the murder of children, women and civilians.
Throughout the day, however, officials were careful to draw a distinction between Straw — who was repeatedly referred to as “inexperienced” — and Blair, who is widely considered in government and diplomatic circles as a strong friend of Israel.