Sharon Apologizes for Remarks That Irked D.C.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, entangled in a rare public flap with the White House, has used American and Israeli newspapers to apologize for comments in which he suggested the United States was appeasing Arab states the way the West appeased Adolf Hitler on the eve of World War II.

Sharon told the newspapers Saturday that he regretted he was misunderstood, and his aides said they were confident the dispute, which triggered an angry rebuke from Washington, was now put to rest.

In his original comments Thursday, Sharon warned that Israel “will not be Czechoslovakia” and added: “Do not try to appease the Arabs at our expense.” He was suggesting that Israel would be sacrificed--as Czechoslovakia was sacrificed before World War II--as the U.S. attempts to build a global anti-terrorism alliance that would include Arab and Muslim states.

“To my regret, the metaphor [of Czechoslovakia] in my speech was not understood properly,” Sharon said.

Sharon went on to praise President Bush for his “courageous decision” to set a goal of eradicating terrorism, adding: “The government of Israel welcomes this decision and will provide its full and unwavering support to the success of this commitment of the president.”

The statement went a few steps beyond comments Friday that Sharon made to U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in a conciliatory telephone call. Then, he also praised Bush’s “courage” and the “special friendship” between Israel and the United States, but he pointedly did not apologize, according to U.S. officials.

Now he has. He made the new statement to the Jerusalem Post and several American newspapers, among them the New York Times, which reported he expressed regret five times in less than five minutes.

Meanwhile, in a rare public criticism of Islamic Palestinian militants, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Cabinet demanded that gunmen stop attacking Israel, saying they have violated the Mideast truce and damaged Palestinian interests.

In a further sign of Palestinian efforts to calm tensions, Palestinian police Saturday arrested at least two militants wanted by Israel in what they said was a new policy to rein in anti-Israeli groups.

And in the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians after pushing about a half-mile deeper into a Palestinian-controlled area seized in an incursion Friday, Palestinian officials said.