The suicide bombing Sunday in the Israeli city of Natanya led U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to say that Yasser Arafat must rein in Palestinian activists, even while acknowledging Arafat cannot control all of them.
"I think there clearly is a class of bombings that he can't" rein in, Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
He cited groups supporting Syria and Iran, and named Hizbullah and Hamas "that don't come under his purview and that have in the past indicated they're prepared to do everything they can to destroy the peace process."
"On the other hand, there have in the past been bombings by elements of Palestinian organizations that come under his control and there he clearly has the capacity to act," Cheney said.
"We've got to find a way to get a handle on it, because we're not going to get that peace process back on track until the violence ends," Cheney said.
The vice president also warned that if suicide bombers "achieve their desired results" in the Middle East, it would heighten the possibility they use the tactic in the United States. "I think there's a real possibility that we may see that kind of thing here or in other open societies," he said. (Albawaba.com)
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