US blames Hamas for Mideast violence

The United States has accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of being the major obstacle to Middle East.

The United States has accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of being the major obstacle to Middle East.

"The issue is Hamas. The terrorists are Hamas," White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer told reporters travelling with US President George W. Bush to Connecticut.

His comments marked a change in tone from US criticism of Israel for its attempt to kill a Hamas leader on Tuesday. Hamas has rejected Mr Bush's Middle East peace "road map" as too generous to Israel.

Since that attack, the Middle East has been engulfed in a wave of retributive violence, including a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed 16 in Jerusalem on Wednesday and lethal Israeli attacks in Gaza. An Israeli missile strike yesterday killed a senior Hamas militant, his wife and three-year-old daughter, among seven dead.

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Mr Bush has directed Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to continue speaking to officials in the region by telephone. There was no sign Bush himself would make calls.

Mr Fleischer said the road map endorsed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders at a summit with Mr Bush last week was still the right way toward a Middle East peace deal.

"The danger is created by the terrorists. The way ahead will be found by listening to the Arab nations, [Palestinian] Prime Minister [Mahmoud] Abbas and the Israeli government," Mr Fleischer said.