Washington ? President Bush said Saturday that peace in the Middle East requires “hard choices and real leadership” by Israelis, Palestinians and their Arab neighbors. The White House was cool to former President Clinton’s offer to play a role in peacemaking.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., urged Bush to take up Clinton’s overture. “I think his advice would be invaluable,” said Specter, who met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat three weeks ago.

But Bush will stay the course he has charted, a White House spokeswoman said.

“The president has outlined a clear blueprint for the pathway to peace in the Middle East,” and the administration has made progress, Claire Buchan said. “We and the international community are focused on bringing the parties together.”

After defending Israel last week, and later expressing sympathy for the plight of Palestinians, Bush used his weekly radio address to make an evenhanded demand on all players in the Mideast.

“The time is now for all of us to make the choice for peace,” he said.

“All parties must realize that the only long-term solution is for two states – Israel and Palestine – to live side by side in security and peace,” the president said. “This will require hard choices and real leadership by Israelis and Palestinians and their Arab neighbors.”

He urged Israel to continue withdrawing from Palestinian territory, but did not repeat his demand earlier this month that it do so “without delay.” Nor did he identify any specific timetable.

Bush also demanded that the Palestinian Authority “act on its words of condemnation against terror.” And, he said, “all Arab nations must confront terror in their own region.”

“All parties must stop funding or inciting terror, and must state clearly that a murderer is not a martyr; he or she is just a murderer,” Bush said.

Bush has used such language before, but the “martyr” reference took on heightened significance just days before Bush is to meet with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at Bush’s Crawford, Texas, ranch.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd ordered a telethon to help relatives of “martyrs,” part of a wave of Arab support for the Palestinians amid Israel’s offensive in the West Bank.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington said the term as used in fund-raising drives referred not to suicide bombers but to “Palestinians who are victimized by Israeli terror and violence.”

Bush called Secretary of State Colin Powell’s recent trip to the region “intensive and productive,” though Powell was unable to arrange a cease-fire.

Bush cautioned Americans not to expect too much in the near term from American efforts. “In this region, we are confronting hatred that is centuries old, and disputes that have lingered for decades,” he said.

The president also reminded listeners that the war in Afghanistan and the campaign against terror are moving ahead.

“We will use every available tool to tighten the noose around the terrorists and their supporters,” Bush said. “And when it comes to the threat of terror, the only path to safety is the path of action.”

In an Associated Press interview Thursday, Clinton said he would like to be involved in the Middle East peace process but his contribution would depend on what the current administration had in mind.

Specter embraced Clinton’s offer, and urged Bush to use the former president, whose 2000 peace summit nearly produced a Mideast accord.

“Former President Clinton has a lot of experience in the area. He knows the players,” Specter said on CNN.