President Bush on Tuesday defended Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas and said he may send a delegation to the region next week to try to keep the peace process alive following the assassination of the group’s leader by Israeli forces. Bush also said his administration took seriously any threats by Hamas against the United States. “Any country has the right to defend itself from terror. Israel has the right to defend herself from terror. And as she does so, I hope she keeps consequences in mind as to how to make sure we stay on the path to peace,” Bush said in his first public comment on Monday’s assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin. Minutes before Bush spoke to reporters, White House spokesman Scott McClellan urged Israel to exercise “maximum restraint” in response to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s order to target all Palestinian militant leaders. Bush did not repeat a statement by McClellan on Monday that Washington was “deeply troubled” by Yassin’s killing. “I’m worried about terrorist groups targeting America,” Bush said when asked about possible threats by Hamas against the United States. “Whether it be an Hamas threat, or an al Qaeda threat, we take them very seriously in this administration.” Yassin’s killing was a major setback to the U.S. “road map” to Middle East peace, already mired in tit-for-tat violence. But Bush held out hope of reviving the plan. “There needs to be a focused, concerted effort by all parties to fight terror,” he said. “This administration is committed to finding a two-state solution — a two-state solution for the good of Israel, a two-state solution for the good of the Palestinian people.” “To this end, if the circumstances on the ground allow, I’ll be sending a team back out to the Middle East next week to see if we can’t keep the process alive, the process toward peace,” Bush said. Previous delegations were led by deputy U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley, National Security Council Middle East chief Elliot Abrams and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns.
Despite pledges to revive the road map, U.S. and Israeli officials have largely turned their focus to Sharon’s plan to unilaterally remove Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.
The White House sees the plan as a “positive” and potentially “historic” interim step while the road map remains stalled. “It’s important during this time that everybody exercise maximum restraint in order to restore calm in the region. That’s the president’s message,” McClellan told reporters. Israel stepped up strikes on militants after suicide bombers killed 10 people at a port last week. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ruled out peace talks with the Palestinians until attacks on Israelis stop. var year = new Date() document.write(‘