Ministers Limor Livnat and Ruby Rivlin had some criticism during this morning\'s Cabinet meeting of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. They said that the positions he expressed during his recent trip abroad were different than those of the Prime Minister. Peres had said that Arafat was not to blame for the Palestinian violence and that he is still Israel\'s partner, while Sharon stated explicitly that Israel sees the current attacks as \"the result of a strategic decision by Arafat.\"
Livnat said, \"The message is not uniform, there is ambiguity, and this causes damage.\" Peres responded that the fact that 67% of Americans support Israel\'s position proves that there is no vagueness. Prime Minister Sharon defended Peres, saying that Peres \"made a large contribution.\" Participants at the meeting later said that Sharon and Peres had put on a united front.