His fledgling Mideast peacemaking effort in jeopardy, only days after it seemed to hold much promise, Bush said the helicopter attack that wounded Abdel Aziz Rantisi and killed a bodyguard and a bystander was troubling and counterproductive. "I emphasize all parties must behave responsibly," he said.

The United States has its own recent record of trying to kill terrorists wherever they can be found, of wanting Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" or with his "head on a platter," and of making Saddam Hussein a personal target at each opportunity during the Iraq war.
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Despite Washington's nearly 30-year-old ban on assassinations, the government has vigorously hunted people it regards as terrorists and has tried to kill them. Vice President Dick Cheney said he'd accept bin Laden's head; Bush wanted the al-Qaida leader in any fashion.

In November, an unmanned CIA Predator plane fired a missile at a car in Yemen, killing a man described as al-Qaida's top operative in that country and five other people. Yemen's leadership was cooperating in the war on terrorism.
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Lasensky said that although the leaders may view terrorism in the same stark terms, the situations are different. The Israeli-Palestinian struggle is a longstanding one between two peoples over nationhood and territory, he said. "That is not 9-11.”