WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Israel’s skepticism and a fresh burst of Palestinian terror, the Bush administration is considering a conference of top U.S., U.N., Russian and European Union ministers within the next two months.
The aim is to develop details of a roadmap for peacemaking and for change within the Palestinian leadership. By 2005, there would be a Palestinian state on West Bank and Gaza land now held by Israel.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and top European Union officials would attend the conference.
The tentative date is Dec. 20, in Europe or the Middle East, but two U.S. officials told The Associated Press Thursday the conference might not be held until January and in Washington.
President Bush has endorsed statehood for the Palestinians but has insisted on an end to corruption and ties to terror in the Palestinian Authority as conditions. He also has called for new leadership to replace Yasser Arafat.
The administration has moved slowly along the peace track, insisting first on a sharp decrease in terror attacks on Israel civilians.
A State Department spokesman, Philip T. Reeker, said Thursday, ‘‘Progress toward the realization of Palestinian aspirations and the realization of the president’s vision of two states living side by side in security is simply impossible while violence and heinous attacks continue.’’
Reeker referred to a Palestinian suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus Thursday.
Bush and British Prime minister Tony Blair deplored the attack during a meeting of NATO leaders in Prague in the Czech Republic.
Bush said he was ‘‘greatly disturbed’’ by the violence. He insisted that all countries in the region step up and fight back against terrorists.
With many Arab leaders warning that any U.S.-led attack on Iraq could destabilize the Arab world, Blair said it was important to tackle the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in concert with the campaign to disarm Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
‘‘The whole world wants to see us now take a very firm stand against terrorism, against issues of weapons of mass destruction, but also try and make sure we can provide a secure future with lasting peace in the Middle East,’’ Blair said.
Bush reiterated his goal was two independent states — Israel and Palestine. ‘‘And we will continue to work with those who share that vision for the sake of the Israeli people and for the sake of the Palestinian people,’’ the president said.
Powell called on the Palestinians to take ‘‘immediate and sustained steps’’ to wipe out the terror structure.
Powell also condemned the bombing and offered his sympathy to the Israeli government, the Israeli people and the families of the victims, in a statement issued in Washington by the State Department.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A 13-year-old Israeli girl who loved to draw was buried at sunset Thursday on a Jerusalem hilltop, one of 11 people killed when a Palestinian man blew himself up on a crowded bus. Four of the dead were children.
It was the first attack in Jerusalem since August, and the bomber’s hometown — Bethlehem — braced for retaliation that began early Friday as Israeli troops moved into the city, surrounding the Church of the Nativity, which marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Israeli military spokesman Doron Spielman said the object was to prevent gunmen from seeking refuge in the church.
Hours earlier, the army ordered residents of about 30 homes in el-Khader, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, to leave their homes so the army could take up positions, residents said.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who met with his defense minister and other officials, decided the army would carry out a ‘‘pinpoint operation,’’ which would include entering Bethlehem, Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin said.
Two militant Islamic groups claimed responsibility for Thursday morning’s bomb attack: Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Gissin said Hamas would be the group targeted.
Hamas participated in talks with Egypt and Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement to negotiate a freeze on Palestinian attacks at least until Israel’s Jan. 28 election. A first round of talks in Cairo ended inconclusively.
A continuation of bombings and shootings would strengthen Israel’s right-wing parties going into the elections.
Among the dead were four children: two 13-year-olds, an 8-year-old boy who died along with his grandmother, and a 16-year-old boy whose mother also was killed.
Hodaya Asaraf, an eighth grader at a Jerusalem arts school, was the first to be buried. Shortly after sunset, the 13-year-old was laid to rest at a hilltop cemetery amid the wails of her mother.
‘‘Her friends said the last thing she drew were leaves,’’ said a teacher, Chena Ben-Yaakov. ‘‘The leaf has fallen.’’
Passengers and police said the bomber boarded bus No. 20 and detonated the explosives belt at about 7:10 a.m., as the bus was stopped in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Menachem neighborhood, police said.
The blast blew out the bus windows and sent glass shards and body parts flying. Hours later, a man’s arms dangled from a broken bus window and a torso was covered with a blue and white checkered blanket.

NOIA, Spain (AP) — Waves of black sludge from a major oil spill washed ashore amid high winds and driving rain Thursday, tarring new stretches of northwest Spain’s scenic coastline and further threatening the region’s multimillion-dollar fishing industry.
The regional government extended a ban on fishing and shellfish harvesting declared Saturday, when oil from the tanker Prestige first reached land.
The widest ban now covers more than 186 miles of Galicia coastline from Ferrol south to Ribeiro.
About 2.7 million gallons or more of fuel oil leaked from the Bahamas-flagged tanker in several spills starting Nov. 13, when it cracked its hull in a storm.
The ship finally broke in half and sank Tuesday about 150 miles off Cape Finisterre — which translates to Land’s End Cape — carrying most of its 20-million-gallon cargo to the ocean floor.
On Thursday, fishermen harvested mussels, oysters and other commercially valuable shellfish ahead of schedule from estuary beds that risked contamination. Authorities deployed more oil-blocking barriers outside ports and rivers open to the ocean. Soldiers in protective gear joined environmentalists and volunteers in shoveling toxic oil from beaches.
Spain’s environmental minister estimated economic damages and cleanup costs at $42 million so far.
Fishing and canning is a major industry here, generating about $330 million a year.
‘‘We’re afraid the black tide will come here,’’ said Maria Busto, 47, one of about 600 anglers standing knee-deep in the Noia estuary below Cabo Finisterre, raking cockles and clams into pails.
The normal daily quota is 55 pounds, worth about $6 per pound. But that quota was set aside because of the threat posed to the unharvested crop.
By noon, Busto had harvested 64 pounds.
The miles of oil barriers deployed in recent days were ineffective against rough Atlantic seas, and the government lacks other resources — such as oil-skimming ships — to control the spill effectively. Neighboring countries were sending cleanup vessels.
The beach at Mar de Fora that escaped last week’s first spill was coated Thursday with thick, smelly oil that rolled in with the surf.
Onlookers sat in cars at beaches, watching black waves and tarred wildlife through the persistent rain.
Some sea gulls, cormorants and other wildlife were dead. Others caught in the spill flapped away from volunteers trying to rescue them.
At least several hundred animals have died in the spill, according to the government and environmental groups.
At dusk in Corcubion, six miles east of Finisterre, civil defense authorities deployed more than a mile of floating barriers to protect shellfish in the bay. An oil slick was projected to hit there within hours.
‘‘The national government is not protecting us,’’ complained Mayor Rafael Mouzo, who said the barriers were requested five days ago but just only had arrived.
Although high winds and 26-foot waves dispersed some floating oil in recent days, four slicks detected offshore were heading toward land. Residents fear more of the same in coming days, but there is little they can do to stop it.
‘‘We’re profoundly uneasy,’’ said Celestino Fermoso, the mayor of Muros.