By Ayesha Ahmad, IOL Washington Correspondent 

WASHINGTON, March 9 (IslamOnline) – After 37 Palestinians were killed on Friday alone, the U.S. harshly criticized both Israelis and Palestinians and is planning on returning special Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni to the region for an indefinite time, as Vice President Dick Cheney prepares for a trip through the region. 

"Right now, both sides should think through the consequences of the policies they're following," U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday.

"We continue to be very deeply troubled by the escalating violence… we continue to urge both sides to do all they can to bring it to an immediate end." 

Boucher reiterated the administration's concerns on both sides of the conflict - first, that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat bring an immediate end to Palestinian attacks on Israelis. 

"These heinous acts of terror can only harm the interests of the Palestinians," he said. 

He also reiterated U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's message to hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to "take a hard look at his policies… declaring war against the Palestinians and attempting to solve the problem through military action doesn't lead us anywhere." 

Boucher addressed a number of issues regarding Israeli measures against Palestinians, including targeted killings and Israeli army targeting of humanitarian workers. 

"We're very strongly opposed to targeted killings; that remains our position," he said, adding that such policy "clearly works against the overriding goal… [and] such actions should be halted now." 

He spoke to concerns about repeated actions of the Israeli occupation forces, “whether they're deliberate or not, against humanitarian workers - Red Cross/Red Crescent officials, ambulances, hospitals, individuals - attempting to transfer checkpoints for urgent humanitarian reasons." 

Boucher stressed Israel's responsibility to ensure that "maximum care is taken to prevent harm to humanitarian workers," and that procedures are put in place to allow injured people and humanitarian workers through checkpoints and avoiding targeting them. "Civilians should not be targeted," he added. 

The spokesman also expressed concern about vigilante attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villagers, urging Israeli authorities to ensure there were no attacks on civilians. 

The return of the special envoy to the region struck some as a turnaround in policy, but Boucher said simply that Zinni's trip was an "statement of our concern about our commitment… we've always focused on steps to reduce the violence." 

Zinni is traveling to the Middle East with "a roadmap for peace," Boucher said, looking for immediate implementation of the Tenet security workplan as the first step towards the Mitchell Commission's recommendations for confidence-building steps and a lasting, just peace plan. 

In a phone conversations with Powell Friday, both Sharon and Arafat said that they welcomed the arrival of the envoy, Boucher said, as Powell urged both to take steps to quell the bloodshed. 

Earlier Friday, U.S. President George W. Bush expressed hope that the presence of both Zinni and the Vice President would have a "positive impact." 

Cheney will leave Sunday on a trip that will take him through Britain, Turkey and eight Arab nations; while in the Middle East, he will discuss the President's "roadmap to peace" while Zinni is "working on the ground," Boucher said. 

The Vice President would also discuss peace proposals recently put forth by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in the context of the upcoming Arab League meetings, he added. Before dispatching Zinni, Washington had welcomed the proposal, as well as a suggestion by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to host a meeting between the Arafat and Sharon, but had said that the violence first had to come to an end. 

Sharon has stated a policy of requiring a seven-day period of calm before resuming peace talks, but Boucher said that this was not necessarily part of U.S. policy in the region.