Sharon Osbourne and Cherie Blair Posted on 06/20/2002 5:45:35 AM PDT by SJackson
+++JORDAN TIMES 19 June '02:
"Cherie Blair 'sorry' over comments on Palestinian bombers "
[IMRA: Not mentioned on BBC TV.]
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"The prime minister's wife earlier had said: 'As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up, you are never going to make progress' "
" `She did not and never would she ever condone suicide bombers or say they had no choice.' "
" `what Cherie was saying, as everyone who has looked at this problem knows is the case,' "
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FULL TEXT:
LONDON (AFP) - Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was Tuesday forced into a public apology for saying that young Palestinians felt they had no choice but to blow themselves up.
[IMRA: She didn't apologize. She used a spokesperson who said she was sorry for those who misinterpreted Cherie's statement.] Her comments were made hours after a suicide bomber killed 19 Israelis in occupied Jerusalem, and appeared to be a gaffe by a prominent media personality who has so far attempted to avoid any suggestion of playing a political role.
Cherie Blair's remarks were condemned by opposition deputies while the Israeli embassy in London expressed its "regret that any public statements which might be interpreted as expressing understanding for Palestinian terrorism should be made, particularly on a day on which 19 innocent Israeli lives were taken by a suicide bomber from Hamas."
The embassy's statement added: "No political grievance or circumstance can justify the wilful targeting of civilians for political gain, nor can those who glorify and encourage such atrocities, teaching and preaching hatred and violence, be absolved of their responsibility for this terrible phenomenon."
The prime minister's wife had earlier said: "As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up, you are never going to make progress."
Her comments were in stark contrast to those of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who earlier condemned as "evil beyond words" the suicide bombing in occupied Jerusalem.
Cherie Blair's comments were made when she appeared alongside Her Majesty Queen Rania at the launch of a 500,000 pound ($743,000 ) charity appeal in London aimed at improving medical assistance for thousands of Palestinians.
A spokeswoman for Cherie Blair said: "If any offence has been taken from the interpretation of her comments then Mrs Blair is obviously sorry.
[IMRA: Surely Cherie doesn't need a spokesperson for this explanation. Also, those who take offense are, in effect, accused of misinterpreting what she said.]
"None was intended and it goes without saying that she condemns the atrocity today in the strongest possible terms along with all right-minded people.
"She did not and never would she ever condone suicide bombers or say they had no choice."
The prime minister also ran to the defence of his wife.
"First of all I hope that no-one misdescribes her sentiments, or mine or anyone else's," he told reporters.
[IMRA: Again, blame is placed on those who'misdescribe" her sentiments. The clarification intensifies the fault.]
"Everybody in this situation feels nothing but the deepest sympathy for the people who have lost their lives in the latest terrorist attack. Terrorism offers absolutely no future, no way out of that process whatsoever," he added.
"But of course it is true that we need to make sure that there is hope for the future and the hope lies in the political process taking the place of the extremists, the terrorists and the suicide bombers.
"And I am sure that is what Cherie was saying, as everyone who has looked at this problem knows is the case," said the prime minister.
Michael Ancram, foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Conservatives, attacked the prime minister's wife for using the "most unfortunate words."
"These words will cause massive offence," he said. "There can never be any justification for terrorist violence, particularly of the kind we saw in Israel this morning."
Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA
When will the press stop revising history. Unless they are refering to the Palistinian's "occupying" East Jerusalem they are merely regurgitating Palistinian Propaganda.
This Blair women appears to be as much of an imbicile as Hillary Clinton.
Sharon Osbourne and Cherie Blair I think we got it the first time.
The Israeli's gave EVERYTHING possible for the Palestinians to have "hope". They allowed their worst enemy (arafat) to move in next door to them. They handed him virtually complete autonomy over the territory. They negotiated water rights, land rights, police forces. They allowed them newspapers, radio and television. They negotiated for 8 years to make peace at Oslo. They had offered almost everything they had asked for, including complete sovereignty over the land and parts of Jerusalem.
The Palestinians never had any "hope" and never wanted any "hope". Their time "negotiating" at Oslo was a ruse designed to buy them time to entrench themselves and equip themselves and arm themselves and amass themselves right on Israel's border. When it came time to sign the deal, they showed their true colors by resorting to the violence of the Intifada, to continue the war they started in 1948.
So to the Ted Turners and Cherie Blair's of the world, I say EFF YOU for making a moral relativist's case on behalf of this sick, depraved culture that uses religion, the media and politics to turn their people into mass murderers.
cheriboot@matrixlaw.UK
cheriboot@matrixlaw.UK
cheriboot@matrixlaw.UK
cheriboot@matrixlaw.UK
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