Key GOP senator says Bush must do more on Mideast

Hagel: "The president's going to have to be seen as doing more."

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush will likely have to take a more public role in Middle East diplomatic efforts, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel said Tuesday.

Hagel, a Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "at the lowest ebb" since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and, "The president's going to have to be seen as doing more."

"He's probably going to have to be more public and more directed than he has been in the past, realizing what he's been saying and what [Secretary of State Colin] Powell's been saying and others -- that we can't impose peace, we can't force peace," Hagel said.

VIDEO Sen. Chuck Hagel tells CNN's John King that Bush needs to be seen as doing more in Mideast (August 14) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Israel launches new West Bank incursion, Palestinians say

"However, America is in a unique position, and I still believe resides in this unique position, that it is the only country that has the credibility and the power and the reach to be able to bring these two sides closer. Not together, but closer together."

Hagel conceded "most of it is out of his [Bush's] control." But he said that by taking a more visible role, Bush would give both sides "some confidence and some belief that this president is more engaged than he has been."

"This is a time when we are going to have to soon get to some place to bring this as much as we can to a halt," Hagel said. "I think the time is fast approaching when this thing will get out of control."

In a week marked by two Palestinian suicide bombings and two days of Israeli military incursions into Palestinian-administered territory in the West Bank, Bush called for both sides to do more to end the conflict that has wracked the region since last autumn.

"It is essential that the violence stop,” Bush said. "I feel very strongly about it, because I'm worried about the cycle of violence continuing to escalate."

Hagel echoed Bush's comments, telling CNN's "Inside Politics" that "the intensity of the violence, as it ratchets up, knows no boundaries."

"We just keep escalating past any kind of responsible grammar here in a way that's without any accountability. And partly that's because we are without any kind of framework of responsibility, a connecting rod to bring everybody back to a compass or a common denominator central point like Oslo was," he said, referring to the 1993 Israel-Palestinian interim peace accord.

Hagel said Bush's early hands-off approach to diplomatic efforts, which followed intense attempts by President Clinton to forge a comprehensive peace agreement, was an appropriate step. It gave Bush a chance to review the previous administration's efforts and reach his own conclusions.

"But that can't go on forever," he said. "At some point, the administration is going to have to get their arms around this as best they can."