By
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday condemned a deadly bus-stop attack on Israeli soldiers and civilians as three angry Israeli envoys met with Secretary of State Colin Powell and said Yasser Arafat had the power to stop the violence.
Powell then called Arafat, who told him he had condemned "the killings, and the violence, and the bus attack that took place today," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Boucher said in the course of a 15-minute conversation Powell told the Palestinian leader he opposed "a policy of targeted killings."
That appears to put the Bush administration at odds with Israel, which has singled out Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks for assassination.
On a visit to Turkey, meanwhile, Arafat said, "Of course, we are against the use of violence and of killings in whatever capacity." Without referring directly to the bus-stop attack, he said "we are against all acts of violence, the military escalation and all acts of terrorism."
Bush told reporters the United States would strive to restore calm in the Middle East. He said he had expressed his condolences in a telephone call to outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
"I strongly condemn the terrible act of violence in the Middle East this morning," Bush said, adding that the violence "needs to stop."
"I'm urging all parties to do their utmost to end the violence," he said.
Bush didn't take sides, saying the United States would "continue to work with all parties to try to restore calm in the region."
Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said recent attacks on Israelis originated with the military arm of Fatah, the main body in the Palestine Liberation Organization, and with Arafat's elite bodyguards.
"These are not spontaneous acts of violence," Gold said after a half-hour meeting he, former Israeli Foreign and Defense Minister Moshe Arens and former Ambassador Zalman Shoval held with Powell.
Warning Israel would retaliate, Shoval said, "The Israeli government has a duty and right to protect itself against terrorism."
Arafat, he said, has the "capability" to halt the attacks. It is a challenge Shoval said he hoped Arafat would meet.
Casting doubt on any early resumption of peace talks, Arens said "ending violence is a prerequisite to any negotiations."
The three Israelis then met with Vice President Dick Cheney for nearly an hour. In a sketchy account, Cheney spokeswoman Juleanna Glover Weiss said they surveyed the political and security situation in the region.
Bush spoke several hours after a Palestinian driver crashed a bus into a bus stop crowded with Israeli soldiers and civilians during morning rush hour yesterday. Eight persons were killed and 20 injured in the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants in nearly four years.
The Bush administration on Tuesday criticized both Israel and the Palestinians for escalating violence that could dim already faint hopes for resuming peace talks.
The State Department condemned Israel's use of helicopter gunships and Palestinian attacks on settlements and motorists and the use of mortar fire.
Boucher said the escalating violence was producing "a new cycle of action or reaction, which can become impossible to control."
"Our assessment is the events of the last 48 hours represent a serious deterioration of the security situation on the ground at a time that we all recognize is very, very sensitive," he said.
Stressing that incoming Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would proceed with care, Arens said Tuesday that "first and foremost, the Palestinian violence that has been going now for the last few months has to cease if we are to have productive negotiations."
Standing alongside Arens in the White House driveway, another former Israeli ambassador to Washington, Shoval, said, "We have conveyed the message the prime minister-elect of Israel, Sharon, is determined to pursue the track of peace, the aim of peace, provided the other side understands that while shooting is going on, violence is going on, it is very difficult to discuss peace."
Still, after the three emissaries met with Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, Shoval said, "We are willing to go a long way if the other side reciprocates."
Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi, also in Washington, denounced Sharon as a war criminal "who should not be raising the peace flag" and said Barak had launched a campaign of political assassinations.
Powell is due to fly to the Middle East on Feb. 23 for talks with Sharon, Arafat and other Arab leaders to gauge prospects for reopening Arab-Israeli peace talks.
