Barak said Arafat "does not appear to be a partner for peace at this time."

Meanwhile, President Clinton said the attack on the Cole appeared to be an act of terrorism--the worst against the U.S. military since the bombing of an Air Force barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996 that killed 19 troops.

"We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable," Clinton pledged.

At a State Department news conference, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the United states would not "retreat from our responsibilities" in the region.

"We are operating in a world that is filled with a variety of threats," Albright said. "But that doesn't mean that we can crawl into an ostrich-like mode. We are eagles."

Robert I. Rotberg, director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government called the eruption of violence "tragic" in its effect on the recent efforts at peace in the Middle East region.

Rotberg said that he expects the U.S. to redouble its pressure on Palestinian and Israeli leaders to hammer out an agreement for peace.

"The U.S. is in no position politically to do more than engage in strenuous peace making initiatives," Rotberg said. "It would be enormously dangerous for anyone to attack Israel, considering the force of an election year, because the U.S. might feel compelled to act."