White House blames Clinton for Mid East violence

The White House today blamed aggressive diplomacy by former President Bill Clinton for the current violence in the Middle East, saying he pushed Israelis and Palestinians too hard ‘‘in an attempt to shoot the moon and get nothing.’’

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer rejected the notion that President Bush’s policies have not worked, saying that the violence began while Clinton was still in office.

He turned aside the idea of talking with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as Clinton did, saying Bush does not want to create false expectations.

Clinton tried to ‘‘push the parties beyond where they were willing to go,’’ Fleischer said. ‘‘It led to expectations raised to such a high level that it turned to violence.’’

During his last months in office, Clinton was heavily engaged in pressing Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to strike an accord, but his intensive diplomacy failed. Fleischer said neither side was ready to agree, and the intensity and breakneck pace set by Clinton ‘‘led to expectations raised to such a high level that it turned to violence.’’

‘‘You can make the case that in an attempt to shoot the moon and get nothing, more violence resulted,’’ Fleischer said. ‘‘The parties didn’t want to agree to what the United States was pushing for.

‘‘It is important to be careful in the region, to proceed at a pace that is achievable and doable, and not to raise people’s expectations falsely too high,’’ Fleischer said. ‘‘The failure to reach that level created unmet expectations.’’