White House Reluctant to Intervene in Mideast

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Middle East violence spun out of control on Tuesday, the White House offered little sign it would use a visit by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) to step up its low-key mediation, saying it was up to Israelis and Palestinians to approve any outside initiatives.

Apparently brushing aside global calls for greater U.S. involvement, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said the priority was to end the violence and that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) had to do more to crack down on Palestinian militants.