UK-Israel flap:Sharon called `cancer' in regional crisis

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UK-Israel flap over Sharon being called `cancer' in regional crisis

 

By Sharon Sadeh

 

The Israeli Embassy has formally protested to the British Foreign

Office after an unnamed "senior" ministry official was quoted by The

Guardian newspaper on Wednesday as calling Prime Minister Ariel

Sharon "the cancer at the center of the Middle East crisis."

 

The report was about the cease-fire efforts in the Israeli-

Palestinian conflict this week and dealt with Sharon's refusal to let

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres meet with Palestinian Authority

Chairman Yasser Arafat.

 

It raised the issue of international frustration with Sharon,

saying, "In an indication of the extent to which patience with Mr.

Sharon has ended, a senior British Foreign Office source described

Mr. Sharon as `the cancer at the center of the Middle East crisis.'"

 

The embassy asked for clarifications about the statement, noting

that "this is not the way to conduct normal friendly relations

between two countries." The embassy spokesman said that "comparing

the prime minister to a disease is reminiscent of the rhetoric of the

worst of Israel's enemies."

 

A Foreign Office spokesman said that the ministry "totally denies the

comments that were supposedly made in our name in the newspaper.

Whoever said those things did not do so in the name of the

government."

 

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw issued a statement

saying, "Neither I nor Mr. Bradshow [the foreign office's minister

responsible for the Middle East] ever used, nor would we ever condone

offensive language."

 

Diplomatic sources said that an internal inquiry to find the leak

proved to no avail. Senior officials were furious over the comments,

worried they would be interpreted by Israel as the mood in the

Foreign Office. The sources said there had been no change in British

policy toward the Middle East.

 

Israeli sources say Jerusalem is concerned that British Foreign

Secretary Jack Straw is tougher on Israel than his predecessor, Robin

Cook. Straw is due to visit Israel next week as part of a Middle East

swing and is expected to meet with Sharon and Peres.

 

British diplomatic sources denied yesterday there is any dispute

between the Foreign Office and 10 Downing Street over Israel's

policies in the territories and raids against targets in the

Palestinian Authority.

 

They said both offices are completely coordinated on the issue of

Middle East policy and that British policy regarding the raids is

well-known: it is an abrogation of signed agreements between the two

sides, and Britain is totally opposed to the raids. As for the raid

into Jenin, the sources noted, the British condemnation of the raids

was not published as a ministerial statement but came in face-to-face

meetings at the level of British and Israeli officials in London and

in Israel.