United States Foreign Relations Palestine

Two senior Bush administration officials worked in tandem Friday to try to hold together an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire, with CIA Director George J. Tenet convening a security meeting and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns seeking to reopen a political dialogue. The meetings represented an intensification of U.S. diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute despite the Bush administration's determination to avoid the deep involvement maintained by the Clinton administration.

President Bush broke his silence on the Middle East crisis Saturday, telling Israel to follow "a path to peace" and demanding that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat make clear his opposition to terrorism. Bush said that Arafat's security force must "do a much better job of preventing people from coming into Israel to blow up innocent people" and that the Palestinian leader must "stand up and condemn, in Arabic, these attacks." "These aren't just isolated incidents," Bush said.

After a week of both staggering bloodshed and intriguing offers from the Arab League and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, U.S. peace efforts in the Mideast remained dependent on the answers to two broad questions: Are any of the parties actually on the same wavelength about what should happen next? And is anyone really listening to the United States? The most hopeful reply to both, amid conflicting signals, is a very tentative "maybe."

Is the Middle East peace process dead, dying or in a coma? In a public statement from his Texas ranch and in calls to Mideast and world leaders, President Bush used strong language Saturday to reaffirm America's commitment to the process. And he pledged that U.S. envoy Anthony C. Zinni will stay in the region to try to mediate. "I think it is very important for our country to provide an opportunity for discussion, an opportunity for people to come together," Bush said. "So Gen.

President Bush broke his silence on the Middle East crisis Saturday, telling Israel to follow "a path to peace" and demanding that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat make clear his opposition to terrorism. Bush said that Arafat's security force must "do a much better job of preventing people from coming into Israel to blow up innocent people" and that the Palestinian leader must "stand up and condemn, in Arabic, these attacks." "These aren't just isolated incidents," Bush said.

Is the Middle East peace process dead, dying or in a coma? In a public statement from his Texas ranch and in calls to Mideast and world leaders, President Bush used strong language Saturday to reaffirm America's commitment to the process. And he pledged that U.S. envoy Anthony C. Zinni will stay in the region to try to mediate. "I think it is very important for our country to provide an opportunity for discussion, an opportunity for people to come together," Bush said. "So Gen.

After a week of both staggering bloodshed and intriguing offers from the Arab League and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, U.S. peace efforts in the Mideast remained dependent on the answers to two broad questions: Are any of the parties actually on the same wavelength about what should happen next? And is anyone really listening to the United States? The most hopeful reply to both, amid conflicting signals, is a very tentative "maybe."

Two senior Bush administration officials worked in tandem Friday to try to hold together an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire, with CIA Director George J. Tenet convening a security meeting and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns seeking to reopen a political dialogue. The meetings represented an intensification of U.S. diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute despite the Bush administration's determination to avoid the deep involvement maintained by the Clinton administration.