President Bush has responded angrily to the news of the latest suicide bombing in Israel, saying countries around the world must join forces to end terrorism. At least 15 people were killed in an attack on a bus near the northern Israeli city of Safed.
The president says he was distressed to learn about the bombing. He says the bloodshed has to end.
"I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers," he said.
Mr. Bush got the news from Israel while vacationing at his parents' home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He spoke early in the morning while getting ready to play golf with his father, summoning reporters unexpectedly to his side, and punching the air with his hand for emphasis.
"There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we started and we must not let them," he said. "For the sake of humanity, for the sake of the Palestinians who suffer, for the sake of the Israelis who are under attack, we must stop the terror."
The latest suicide bombing ripped apart a bus crammed with rush hour passengers, including a number of soldiers returning to duty after a weekend off.
A few hours later, three more people died in a gun battle outside the walls of Jerusalem's old city.
On CNN's Late Edition, the new Israeli Ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon said it was a sad day for his country. "We are filled with sorrow. But yet, we are determined not to let this terror prevail," he said. "Terror will not prevail."
Echoing comments made often by American and Israeli leaders, Mr. Ayalon said the Palestinian Authority must do more to fight terrorism.
In a subsequent interview with C-N-N, Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Sha'ath said the Palestinian Authority wants to do more but is hampered along the way. He said the Palestinian security force in the West Bank has been destroyed.
"All our policemen are either killed, in prison, or decommissioned by the Israelis," he said. "We have absolutely no security installations whatsoever in the West Bank."
The Palestinian official went on to note that an agreement to stop the bloodshed was almost in hand, when Israel launched an air attack about two weeks ago in Gaza city. A leader of the military group Hamas was killed in the attack, along with more than a dozen Palestinian civilians.