Bush 'as angry as Israel' after bomb

Demanding yet again the replacement of Yasser Arafat as Palestinian leader, President Bush expressed his outrage yesterday at the bombing of Jerusalem's Hebrew University in which five Americans were killed. He also appeared to give Israel a green light for stern retaliatory action.

Speaking before talks with King Abdullah of Jordan at the Oval Office, aimed at rekindling the moribund Middle East peace process, Mr Bush said he was just as angry as Israel. He was "furious", he declared.

With American as well as Israeli lives lost, this latest bombing has really struck home here. It also threatens to complicate further Washington's efforts to push Israelis and Palestinians towards an accommodation, stretching the ability of America to project itself as a disinterested honest broker in the search for a peace accord.

Mr Bush said he was seeking the help of Arab governments in tracking down those responsible for the attack, and his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said the US was in contact with the American embassy in Tel Aviv to try to develop leads in the investigation.

The President also appeared to acknowledge that the Jewish state would hit back hard. Though Mr Bush insisted that peace was still possible, he made clear that improving security in the region was the highest priority, saying: "Israel has a right to defend itself."

He did not mute his criticism of Mr Arafat, despite the warnings of allies in the Arab world and Europe that such a stance would only play into the Palestinian leader's hands, increasing Mr Arafat's stature among his own people and making any successor seem the creature of Washington.

Security could not be permitted to depend on the whims of one man, President Bush declared in reference to Mr Arafat, whom the US regards as an accomplice of terrorism.

Mr Bush advocated a new leadership "not compromised by terror". He dismissed the view in the region and beyond that "only one person that can conceivably make this happen for the Palestinians", saying: "I just simply don't believe that." There were "all kinds of brilliant and smart and capable Palestinians" able to carry out a vision of peace, he said.