U.S. Criticizes Israeli Impact on Civilians : Diplomacy: Clinton and advisers step up efforts to end the violence. Christopher talks with the region’s leaders.

President Clinton and his top national security advisers stepped up their efforts Wednesday to try to stop the new violence in the Middle East, sharpening their criticism of Israel in a bid to strengthen the U.S. role as a broker in the peace process.

As Clinton met with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry criticized Israeli “military activities directed against all civilians” and asserted that all violence should end now, including “Israeli air and artillery bombardment.”

Christopher spent much of the day meeting with advisers and talking by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh.

The secretary was trying to persuade all sides to stop the attacks so that his visit to the region, which the State Department said is scheduled to begin Sunday, can focus on efforts to revive the long-range Middle East peace negotiations. Christopher left a conference in Singapore on Tuesday to fly back to Washington for his talks with the President.

Christopher is scheduled to arrive in Egypt on Sunday and travel to Syria, Jordan and Israel during the following three days, returning to Washington late Wednesday. He had planned to be in Australia and the Maldives late this week but canceled that leg of his trip.

A State Department official said Wednesday that Christopher will place additional telephone calls to the Middle East leaders today. “We want to get the fighting over with so we can get some work done on the peace process when we’re over there,” the official said.

Clinton joined in the criticism of Israel on Wednesday, declaring pointedly at a meeting with a group of business executives that “it’s now time for all the players to do more to bring an end to the fighting.”

The President also essentially corrected a remark he made Tuesday praising Syria for showing “commendable restraint” in the face of the rising tensions in the region.

Asked about the comment during the meeting with business leaders, Clinton replied that while he did not believe “anybody thought that Syria was exactly behind” the Hezbollah terrorist group, “I just believe that they (Syria) could do more.”

Clinton said that, aside from Hezbollah and other such groups, “everybody else has a vested interest in continuing the Middle East peace process, and I hope that we can get it going again soon.”

Clinton’s criticism of Israel was the harshest yet of his six months in office, and a rarity for almost any American administration.

Former President Ronald Reagan condemned Israel for bombing Beirut in 1982, but for the most part he was a staunch supporter. His successor, George Bush, criticized Israel a few years ago, mostly over its refusal to stop building new West Bank settlements.

The peace talks, which began in late 1991, bogged down in May over Palestinian demands for more autonomy and because of a dispute with Syria over calls for Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

McCurry’s reference to Israel’s targeting of civilians in Lebanon marked the first time during the Clinton Administration that the State Department has singled out Jerusalem for such activity.

“We’re deeply disturbed by the situation, which has created massive refugee flows in Lebanon,” McCurry said. “The refugees from south Lebanon must be allowed to return to their homes immediately.”

In New York on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali criticized Israel in a statement for pursuing a policy that is displacing the civilian inhabitants of villages in southern Lebanon.

“Given the evolution of the situation in Lebanon as well as the historic background of the Middle East conflict,” he said, “it is deplorable that any government would consciously adopt policies that would lead to the creation of new flows of refugees and displaced persons.”