Ex-President Bill Clinton last night told members of a Florida synagogue that he believes a lasting peace in the Middle East is possible only if the two sides can halt their fighting.
“We cannot expect peace to be made in an atmosphere of violence,” Clinton told the crowd of 900 at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center’s annual black-tie fund-raiser, in his first televised speech since he left office.
The former president praised Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon for giving governmental positions to former statesmen.
“I believe he did a very fine thing in reaching out to [Ehud] Barak and Shimon Peres,” he said.
Officials at the Jewish center would not disclose how much the former president received for the speech. Clinton was paid over $100,000 to address a Morgan Stanley Dean Witter conference in Boca Raton earlier this week.