US President George W Bush has called for an end to the cycle of violence in the Middle East following the latest attack in which at least eight Israelis were killed in Tel Aviv. Israel has sealed off Palestinian-ruled areas. The attack was carried out by a Palestinian who drove a bus into a queue of Israeli soldiers and civilians this morning. A man claiming to speak for the militant Hamas movement told Israeli radio that it carried out the attack. Mr Bush said that he had spoken to the Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, and promised to work with all parties to try to restore calm.
Mr Barak described the attack in which the eight were killed and up to seventeen were injured as "abominable". Israel Radio said that the dead were four female soldiers, three male soldiers and a civilian woman. Israeli police pursued the bus and shot and wounded the driver seriously. Israel's deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh warned that a total blockade could be imposed in the light of what he described as a war being waged on Israel by Islamic militant groups.
Mr Barak promised to bring those responsible to account. He pledged in a statement: "Israel will bring perpetrators and those who sent them to account. They will not get away with it." Israel's Prime Minister-elect condemned the incident, describing it as "a very serious attack". Ariel Sharon said that it proves once again that the Palestinians do not make any difference between Israel and the settlement of Netzarim. That Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip has been the scene of much of the fighting over the past four and a half months of unrest.
However, the Palestinian leader blamed "Israeli military escalation". Yasser Arafat's cabinet secretary said that the driver's action was a "personal operation" that reflected the anger of the Palestinians after months of bloodletting. Relatives and neighbours of the driver described him as a nervous and poor man, unaffiliated to any political group. He has been identified as 35-year-old Ala Khalil Abu Olba, who worked with the Israeli state-owned Egged bus company.
The latest clashes came as an Israeli delegation held talks in Washington following the election of Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister. A member of the delegation, Zalman Shoval, said that Mr Sharon's government would only re-engage the Palestinians in peace talks if violence ended.
