WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon scheduled an emergency meeting at the White House at noon Sunday to discuss the deteriorating Middle East situation, a day earlier than planned because of the devastating suicide bombings in Jerusalem Saturday.
President Bush and the Israeli prime minister had been set to meet Monday, but the White House announced late Saturday that the meeting would be moved earlier to permit Sharon to return swiftly to Israel.
The announcement came mid-evening Saturday as the White House received reports of the terrorist action in a crowded downtown business area of Jerusalem.
In the late afternoon Washington time, terrorists exploded three bombs, according to Israeli authorities, at least one of them armed with nail-like shrapnel, as shoppers and dinner goers walked through a crowded mall.
The death toll was first thought to be six or seven but quickly grew to at least 10 plus two suicide bombers with about 180 persons injured, several of them critically.
Bush issued a strongly worded statement calling the attack "acts of murder that no person of conscience can tolerate and no cause can ever justify."
"I was horrified and saddened to learn of the bombings that took place," he said, calling on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to "immediately find and arrest those responsible for those hideous murders."
The attack comes within days of two special U.S. envoys arriving in Israel to press a new United States initiative to end the 14 months of violence. Only last month, Secretary of State Colin Powell had spoken hopefully of a Palestinian state, long the aim of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and one of the goals of a peace process that would start only if violence could be curtailed.
Powell said Saturday night, "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the evil and horrific terrorist attacks in Jerusalem tonight." Powell said he spoke with Arafat and "made absolutely clear that these despicable and cowardly actions must be brought to an end through immediate comprehensive and sustained actions by the Palestinian Authority against both the individuals responsible and the infrastructure of the groups that support them."
Last week, the U.S. sent retired U.S. Marine General Anthony Zinni and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns to try to cement a cease fire and get U.S. backed peace talks underway. Late Saturday television reports quoted numerous Israeli officials as saying that the latest attack would forestall a cease-fire and perhaps torpedo any new talks.
Over recent months, as U.S. forces have gone on the ground in Afghanistan to destroy terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Bush has been pressuring Sharon to restrain the Israeli military from major incursions into Palestinian territory.
Israel maintains that the attacks on its citizens are coming from Palestinian communities.
But the U.S. has sought to restrain Israel and some analysts have said one major reason has been to allow the United States to gain the support of moderate Arab states in its effort to locate and destroy Al Qaida and apprehend Osama bin Laden.
The Jerusalem attack came as President Bush was returning to Camp David from watching the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.
The president curtailed his Camp David weekend to allow his return to the White House mid Sunday morning.