U.S. urges immediate end to Mideast attacks

'Now is the time to stop the bloodshed,' Clinton says

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials called for an immediate cease-fire and a resumption of peace talks as the violence in the West Bank and Gaza escalated sharply Thursday.

"Now is the time to stop the bloodshed, to restore calm, to return to dialogue and, ultimately, to the negotiating table," President Clinton said in brief remarks Thursday afternoon.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, meanwhile, urged Israel to immediately end its bombardment of Palestinian facilities in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The raids began after a Palestinian mob killed two Israeli soldiers.

RESOURCES Israeli-Palestinian deaths since intifada View chart     GALLERIES   • Palestinians clashed with the Israeli Army Tuesday for a sixth day   • Israeli-Palestinian clashes   • Scenes from the fighting Oct. 1, 2000   • Holy site violence

Thursday morning, Clinton spoke to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, urging him to end the violence and restore calm. Clinton was trying to reach Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, White House officials said.

"I strongly condemn the murder of Israeli soldiers in Ramallah today," Clinton said. "While I understand the anguish Palestinians feel over the losses they have suffered, there can be no possible justification for mob violence."

Albright warned both Israeli and Palestinian leaders that "the future of the Middle East must be decided at the negotiating table, not in the streets."

"Neither Israelis nor Palestinians can gain from further killing," she said. "Both gain from the silencing of guns and cooling of tempers and a resumption of serious and constructive talks."

Israeli helicopters bombed Palestinian government installations in Gaza and knocked out Palestinian Authority radio and television facilities in the West Bank in retaliation for the two soldiers' killings. Arafat called the Israeli attacks "a declaration of war."

Albright also called on the international community to join the United States in urging Arafat to "take the steps necessary to bring this senseless and destructive cycle of fighting to an end."

Albright said the United States was "deeply distressed" by the soldiers' deaths in Ramallah and extended U.S. condolences to their families. She also expressed regret to "the loved ones of all -- both Palestinian and Israeli -- who have been victimized by the terrible violence that's occurred in recent days."

Arafat told Clinton that he, too, deplores the violence and that Palestinian police had tried to protect the Israeli soldiers, National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

"We want to engage as quickly as we can to learn what happened ... to make sure there is not an escalation," Crowley said.

CIA Director George Tenet was to have met with Arafat on Thursday, but the meeting was called off as Arafat received warnings of an attack, officials in Washington and Gaza said.

Tenet is in the region trying to convince Israeli and Palestinian security forces to resume cooperation with each other; U.S. officials say he is safe.

Clinton returned to Washington on Thursday from Chappaqua, New York, where he and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were celebrating their 25th anniversary in their new home. He also spoke with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The latest turn in the spiral of violence came the same day that four U.S. sailors were killed in what Pentagon officials believe was a terrorist attack on the Navy destroyer USS Cole, which was in the Yemeni port of Aden to refuel Thursday. Clinton said he was "horrified" by the attack.

CNN White House Correspondent Kelly Wallace, National Security Correspondent David Ensor, and CNN.com writers Matt Smith and Amy Herstek contributed to this report.

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