Bush loses chance to press Sharon on 'road map' with bombing

WASHINGTON -- A suicide bombing that prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to postpone his visit to the White House this week has set back Bush administration efforts to coax Sharon into a new peace plan.

The attack on a Jerusalem bus killed seven people and drew strong rebuke from the administration.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the horrific terrorist bombing," Secretary of State Colin Powell said. "I want to extend my most sincere condolences and deepest sympathies to the families of all the victims in this despicable attack.

"We call on the Palestinians to begin to take immediate and decisive action to eradicate the infrastructure of terrorism and violence that has wrought such tragic bloodshed for both Palestinians and Israelis and has undermined Palestinian aspirations," Powell said.

There was nothing in his statement directed at the Israelis.

President Bush remains "ready to welcome the prime minister," said White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee.

But there was no word on when the meeting that had been set for Tuesday would be rescheduled. The indefinite postponement disappointed some Bush aides.

The Bush administration was preparing to lean hard on Sharon to adopt the "road map" for Mideast peace, a senior administration official said. Now, there was no opportunity in sight to deliver the message personally, this official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The road map was developed by the "Quartet" of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. It seeks a "final and comprehensive settlement" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 2005.

Palestinians agree to plan

Palestinian officials, after meeting last weekend with Powell in Jericho, accepted the road map.

But Sharon has not embraced the three-stage plan, demanding tough measures against the violent groups ahead of any other peace moves.

Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas met Saturday and were to hold more talks after Sharon returned from the United States.

The suicide attacks, which wounded at least 20 people, came just hours after the first Israeli-Palestinian summit in nearly three years. But Sharon and Abbas failed to narrow their differences over a peace plan.

A top Republican senator said Bush should step up his involvement in the search for Middle East peace, now further complicated by the renewed violence.

"The president is going to have to personally get involved in this," Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We're meandering around and continuing to do that in this cul-de-sac of perpetuation of violence, working our way around in circles and circles," he said. "And somehow we're going to have to get a hold of this to at least establish a vehicle, a commitment from all sides, that there is a way out of this cul-de-sac," Hagel said on "Fox News Sunday."