Palestinians, Israelis react to attack

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hours after a suicide bombing killed eight people, a Palestinian Cabinet member rebuffed the accusation Sunday that Palestinian leaders lacked the will to stop terrorist acts.

Nabil Sha'ath told CNN that Palestinians were continuing to try to halt attacks on Israel, despite the Israeli incursions.

"Our objective was to stop all of these operations and move back to the peace table," Sha'ath said. "Unfortunately, an agreement that was almost in the making was destroyed by the Israeli bombing of Gaza."

Sha'ath said Palestinians were doing their share to end the killing.

"The Palestinian Authority has tried, nevertheless, to talk and to try to negotiate with all of those who still claim they are doing violent operations," he said.

The military wing of Hamas, Izzedine al Qassam, claimed responsibility for the bus attack, which it said was another response to Israel's July airstrike on the Gaza home of Hamas military leader Salah Shehade. The attack also killed 14 other Palestinians, including nine children.

Hamas also said it objected to the findings of a U.N. team that investigated Israel's April incursion into the Palestinian refugee camp at Jenin.

The report, released Thursday, was critical of both sides but said the team found no evidence to support a Palestinian claim that Israelis killed 500 people. The report noted that the Israeli Defense Forces put the death toll at 52.

The report said both sides were careless when it came to protecting human life and were "equally brutal."

The U.S. State Department lists Hamas and Izzedine al Qassam as terrorist organizations.

A few hours after the bus exploded in northern Israel, a Palestinian gunman opened fire near Jerusalem's old city, prompting a shootout with Israeli police that left three more people dead, including the gunman. Israeli police said they shot him.

"Today is a very sad day in Israel as we mourn the deaths of 11 more Israeli victims," said Daniel Ayalon, the new Israeli ambassador to the United States.

"There is no quick fix. There is no magic solution," Ayalon told CNN's "Late Edition."

"You have to have a determined and effective and long-term campaign against the terror. And you have to do it in the absence of any Palestinian action against terror. They have shirked all their responsibilities against all the commitments they took."

Ayalon said Israel had no regrets about the Gaza attack but regretted the loss of civilian lives, especially the children.

Shehade, he said, "was in the midst of preparing mega-terror that could have resulted in the killing of thousands of Israelis. He killed before. He was going to kill after."

President Bush said Sunday he was "distressed" about the latest Middle East violence and called upon all nations to help stop terror.

"For those who yearn for peace in the Middle East, for those in the Arab lands, for those in Europe, for those all around the world who yearn for peace, we must do everything we possibly can to stop the terror," the president said before a round of golf with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, while on vacation in Maine.

"There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we have started, and we must not let them."

Sha'ath said Palestinian officials were awaiting word from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on a date for a proposed August meeting in Washington to discuss the violence.

When asked whether Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat might step aside to boost chances for a peace agreement, Sha'ath said that would no happen.

"President Arafat has been elected by the people with a massive force of observers making sure it was a free election," he said. "He's willing to run again for election."