Israel\'s leaders lay the blame for today\'s murder squarely on the shoulders of Yasser Arafat. President Moshe Katzav said today that he does not accept the PLO leader\'s attempt to shift the blame, and said that it is elementary to expect Arafat to control his own people.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon\'s office stated that from Israel\'s point of view, \"there is no difference between mortar attacks on Sderot and suicide bombers in Kfar Saba,\" and \"the overall responsibility for all attacks of this nature belongs to the Palestinian Authority, which has released the terrorists who carry out these attacks.\"
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that today\'s attack casts a strong shadow on the efforts to stop the violence. \"Although Israel does not know who carried out the attack,\" Peres said, \"we hold the PA responsible, and there will be an appropriate Israeli response.\"
Israel\'s Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau says that Moslem religious leaders must share some of the blame. Visiting the wounded in Kfar Saba this morning, Rabbi Lau said that the Moslem leaders cannot \"wash their hands of guilt\" as long as their mosques serve as bases for incitement to the murder of innocent people. He expressed certainty that if all Islamic leaders around the world would call upon their followers to abandon the path of terrorism, \"the terrorists will have difficulty enlisting suicide killers.\" In a related item, the Mufti of Saudi Arabia says that suicide terrorism is against Islam and is not part of Jihad [Moslem holy war].
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon\'s office stated that from Israel\'s point of view, \"there is no difference between mortar attacks on Sderot and suicide bombers in Kfar Saba,\" and \"the overall responsibility for all attacks of this nature belongs to the Palestinian Authority, which has released the terrorists who carry out these attacks.\"
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that today\'s attack casts a strong shadow on the efforts to stop the violence. \"Although Israel does not know who carried out the attack,\" Peres said, \"we hold the PA responsible, and there will be an appropriate Israeli response.\"
Israel\'s Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau says that Moslem religious leaders must share some of the blame. Visiting the wounded in Kfar Saba this morning, Rabbi Lau said that the Moslem leaders cannot \"wash their hands of guilt\" as long as their mosques serve as bases for incitement to the murder of innocent people. He expressed certainty that if all Islamic leaders around the world would call upon their followers to abandon the path of terrorism, \"the terrorists will have difficulty enlisting suicide killers.\" In a related item, the Mufti of Saudi Arabia says that suicide terrorism is against Islam and is not part of Jihad [Moslem holy war].