US President Bill Clinton, venting his frustration Friday as the death toll mounted in the Middle East, ruled out a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as long as the killing continued.
The president, speaking to journalists at the White House, said he was "frustrated" and "very disturbed" at renewed Israeli-Palestinian violence Friday, declared a "day of rage" by the Palestinians.
"I'm frustrated. I'm just as frustrated as you are, and it's heart-breaking," said Clinton.
"And I'm very disturbed about today, because you actually had two or three good days where there was very little violence."
Clinton urged Israelis and Palestinians caught in the spiral of violence to retain hope. He insisted, however, that there would be no talks while violence raged.
Earlier this week the White House said Clinton intended to invite Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to the United States for separate talks.
"But we've got to get the level of violence down before there can be a resumption of negotiations. In terms of who comes here when, that is still subject to discussion. We're talking to the Israelis, we're talking to the Palestinians, we're talking with others around the world," Clinton said.
Clinton later spoke to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who travels Saturday to the Middle East for a five-day visit.
Schroeder is visiting Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Lebanon.
Their 20-minute conversation focused on current unrest in the Palestinian territories and the broader issue of Middle East peace, White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
On Thursday, the president spoke to Barak in a telephone conversation that lasted about 30 minutes. The two men discussed implementation of the accords reached between Israel and the Palestinians at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt last week, which included a ceasefire.
"The president has been clear that both sides need to implement the process and arrangements that have been agreed to in Sharm el-Sheikh because those offer the best prospect for calming the region and lowering the level of violence," said spokesman Jake Siewert.
There was no sign of a decline in violence Friday. Four Palestinian were killed during the day in clashes with Israeli troops.
Meanwhile a senior US official said reported cooperation between Arafat and militant groups opposed to the peace process was a "bad idea."
"We don't think it's good. It's a bad idea," said the official, who declined to be named, in response to reports that Arafat was working with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The two militant groups are virulently anti-Israel and violently opposed to the peace process – WASHINGTON (AFP)
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