Palestinian Says Sharon Is Trying to Sabotage U.S. Talks
A Palestinian official today accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel of trying to sabotage Palestinian talks in Washington with a nationally televised speech in which he called Yasir Arafat's Palestinian Authority "a gang of corrupt terrorists and assassins."

"He wanted to warn the Americans against reaching any agreement with the Palestinian delegation by describing Palestinian Authority officials as people against peace," the Palestinian cabinet secretary, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, said. "If we are like that, why are we in the States now exerting every possible effort to reach a way out?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/09/international/09CND-MIDE.html