WASHINGTON - Palestinian Authority representative in Washington Afif Safieh charged Sunday that the Likud party is responsible for distributing Danish anti-Muhammad cartoons worldwide in a bid to bring about a collision between the western and Muslim worlds.

In a tense television debate held between Israeli Ambassador in Washington Danny Ayalon and Safieh, which was broadcast on CNN's "Late Edition," the Palestinian envoy was asked by host Wolf Blitzer to comment on the recent violent Muslim demonstrations across the world that erupted in response to the publication of caricatures mocking Prophet Muhammad in a Danish paper.

Safieh replied by saying that his personal acquaintance with both western and eastern societies has led him to believe the pro-Israeli Likud's global wing acted to bring the western, mostly-Christian society to a collision course with Islam.

Stunned by Safieh's answer, Blitzer asked his guest whether he was serious, or only joking. Safieh then explained that the editor of the Danish newspaper that originally published the cartoons is a fan of Jewish right-wing columnist Daniel Pipes, and that the two cooperated in distributing the caricatures that roused furor among Muslims.

Israeli Ambassador Ayalon dismissed the remarks and said they were "nonsense."...