WASHINGTON — President Bush's foreign policy team knew that the meticulously crafted photo opportunities of last week's Middle East summit in Aqaba, Jordan, would almost certainly be followed by grisly pictures from the region when opponents of peace on both sides resumed their deadly cycle of violence.
But the harsh reality of Wednesday's bus bombing in Jerusalem clearly rocked the administration. The bombing, which left 16 Israelis dead, was the bloodiest attack in a week of violence that has killed nearly 40 people on both sides.
"It is clear there are people in the Middle East who hate peace," Bush said. "I urge and call upon all of the free world, nations which love peace, to not only condemn the killings, but to use every ounce of their power to prevent them from happening in the future."
JERUSALEM — The failed assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi is likely to weaken the already precarious position of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and to herald a new wave of terrorist attacks against Israelis.
This was the assessment of most Israeli analysts even before the Hamas-backed suicide bombing in Jerusalem Wednesday and Israel's retaliatory air raid in Gaza.
Prime Minister Sharon was roundly criticized at home and abroad for Tuesday's unsuccessful helicopter assault on Rantisi, who is considered to be second only to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in the Hamas hierarchy. The attack was widely seen as a deliberate attempt to derail the fledgling "road map" to Middle East peace.
The Bush administration also joined in rebuking Israel, with President Bush himself saying he was "deeply troubled" by the assassination attempt. Privately, however, some American sources said the administration's public statements should be taken at less than face value. The administration itself, they said, is frustrated at Hamas attempts to undermine the legitimacy of Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and is expressing some private sympathy with the Israeli attack.