Strike Draws a Bush Rebuke

President Bush on Tuesday admonished Israel for a missile attack that killed several children along with a leader of the militant Islamic movement Hamas, a pointed public rebuke that departed from recent U.S. policy of endorsing Israel’s right to defend itself.

“The president believes this heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace,” White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said. “The United States regrets the loss of innocent lives.”

The White House’s response reflected Washington’s fears that the attack would trigger a new round of violence after a comparative lull. The strike came just hours after religious leaders of Hamas indicated a willingness to reconsider the suicide bombings the group has used against Israel if Israeli forces withdrew from the West Bank.

At stake is the U.S. effort to jump-start the deadlocked peace process by pushing the Palestinians to accept massive reforms in their political and security systems and to abandon Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in favor of more-democratic leaders.

But to obtain the Palestinian public’s support for the strategy, Bush also has promised to get Israel to moderate its harsh treatment of the Palestinians--a pledge he publicly affirmed last week during discussions with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The surprise airstrike on a heavily populated residential area of the Gaza Strip targeted Salah Shehada, the head of Hamas’ military wing, and an aide. But it also killed 13 other people, including nine children; injured more than 100 Palestinians, predominantly civilians; and seriously damaged the surrounding area.

“This was a deliberate attack on this site, knowing that innocents would be lost as a consequence of this attack,” Fleischer said. “Israel has to be mindful of the consequences of its actions to preserve the path to peace.”

The attack took place just as U.S. and Israeli officials had launched discussions on how to implement a new proposal put forward by Arab leaders to generate some momentum behind Bush’s strategy for Middle East peace. In a June 24 speech, the president outlined a vision he said could lead to a Palestinian state in three years.

In talks at the White House last week, Egypt and Jordan proposed that they help train a new Palestinian security force that could more effectively work to prevent suicide bombings and other attacks, according to Egyptian diplomats.

Egypt has already provided the Palestinians with proposals on restructuring their security system, a top Egyptian envoy said Tuesday. And Egyptian trainers are ready to provide assistance, the envoy said.

The key to launching the process, however, is an Israeli withdrawal from reoccupied areas of the West Bank.

On Monday, top Israeli officials from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s staff talked with U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice about a potential pilot project as a first step to defuse tensions.

Powell and Rice spoke with Sharon’s chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, and the prime minister’s military advisor, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, about the possible project, which would involve a partial Israeli withdrawal from one West Bank town, according to Israeli sources.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher later described the talks as “good, productive and useful. We talked about how to advance on all these different areas.”

But Tuesday’s missile attack deals a potentially serious setback to these tentative steps in the peace effort, U.S. officials said.

“The timing of this action is particularly awkward,” said a U.S. official who requested anonymity.

The White House hastened to note Tuesday that Bush would continue to be “the first” to come to Israel’s defense.

But the State Department was especially critical of the attack.

“We’ve made it repeatedly clear that we oppose targeted killings,” Boucher told reporters.

“We’ve repeatedly criticized the use of heavy weaponry in densely populated areas because of these kinds of dangers of large numbers of innocent civilians being killed,” he said.

The White House reaction was officially relayed to Israel.