Military

DATE=8/20/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-S / MIDDLE EAST (L)

NUMBER=2-306686

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Bush administration is engaged in intensive diplomacy to try to keep the Middle East "road map" to peace on track following Tuesday's suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem. U-S officials are pressing Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to act now against extremist factions. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

TEXT: The blitz of telephone diplomacy was led by President Bush, who called Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from his Texas vacation retreat to express condolences over the bus attack which killed 20 people, among them at least five U-S citizens.

A White House spokesman said the President strongly condemned the "vicious" bus bombing, and said the two leaders agreed that the latest attack only reinforced the urgency of cracking down on terrorists and the terrorist infrastructure.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, was on the phone with Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas, U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher and others, including European Union chief diplomat Javier Solana, one of the authors of the Middle East peace "road map."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the administration is intent on rallying support for the peace plan while at the same time isolating those seeking to scuttle the "road map" through violence:

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Despite these brutal attacks, the United States remains committed, the President remains committed, as he said yesterday, to his vision of two states living side-by-side in peace. We think it's essential to have the support of the international community towards that goal, and that international and regional leaders all do their part to insure that no assistance, no support, gets to terrorist groups and groups engaged in violence and terror.

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Spokesman Boucher confirmed that Secretary Powell had summoned U-S Middle East envoy John Wolf back from a summer vacation after the Jerusalem bombing and dispatched him to the region.

Mr. Wolf arrived in Israel late Wednesday and began what officials here say will be an open-ended round of talks with the two parties and other governments in the region. (SIGNED)

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