JERUSALEM — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that U.S. support for Israel was rock solid and blamed 17 months of Palestinian-Israeli bloodshed on Yasser Arafat, saying "he has failed as a leader."
"Yasser Arafat leaves a trail of violated vows and death along a path that could have and should have led to peace and life," Clinton told members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that was meeting in Jerusalem.
The junior Democratic senator from New York, on the first day of a two-day visit to Israel, urged other Americans to travel to the Holy Land as a show of support for Israel and defiance against terrorism.
"It is imperative that we do everything within our power not to give the terrorists any victory no matter how small or mundane," she said.
Clinton said that following the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, the bonds between Israel and the United States are firmer than ever.
The United States and Israel stand together in "resolve against those who would try to undermine and destroy us," she said.
Clinton spoke after Tourism Minister Benny Elon, and she was criticized for sharing the podium with the ultranationalist politician who advocates expelling Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid said in a statement that it was unseemly for Clinton to appear on the same stage as Elon.
Clinton caused a stir during a 1999 visit when as then-first lady, she hugged and kissed Soha Arafat after the Palestinian leader's wife accused the Israelis in a speech of using poison gas against Palestinian women and children. Clinton later repudiated the remark and said that she feared she would have caused an international incident by denouncing Arafat's wife on the spot.
Clinton has no scheduled meetings with Palestinians.