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Former CIA Director Blames Arafat for Being "Barrier to Peace"

[Jerusalem Post] Hilary Leila Krieger - Former CIA Director George Tenet places most of the blame for the breakdown of the security plan bearing his name and other efforts to stop the violence after the outbreak of the second intifada on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in his new book, At the Center of the Storm, published Monday. "Almost always, that last impenetrable barrier to peace had the same name: Arafat," he writes. "Arafat always wanted one more thing, and one more thing was never enough because what he really wanted was for the peace process to be ever-active and eternally unresolved," according to Tenet. He says that the White House was right not to push for greater diplomacy with the Palestinians once Bush entered office, as it was apparent little could be done with Arafat in power. "He got what he could from us [through the Oslo process], and from that point on gave little back," Tenet says. "Therefore - and it was a view I supported - there would be no more letting him in the front door."
2007-05-03 01:00:00
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