Rice heads to Mideast to try to save peace plan

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left for the Middle East on Monday to try to salvage U.S.-sponsored peace talks derailed by Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli towns and Israel's military response in Gaza.

With U.S. credibility at stake, Rice faces an uphill battle to revive peace talks suspended over the weekend by pro-Western Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Washington wants those talks to result in a peace treaty by the end of the year but that hope seems increasingly unrealistic.

While Israeli troops pulled out of the Gaza Strip on Monday in response to international appeals, a senior Israeli official described it as just a "two-day interval" during Rice's visit.

More than 100 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza offensive, which followed rocket attacks by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli towns. The U.S. reputation as an honest peace broker is under the spotlight again because of Washington's close ties to Israel.

The Bush administration made it clear it blamed Hamas for the latest upsurge in violence.

"We obviously don't want any innocent civilians to lose their life, but I think that started with these rockets that have been fired from Gaza into Israel, recently killing and injuring Israeli citizens in some of their bigger cities," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

U.S. officials said Rice would press Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to get back to talks despite the violence in Gaza, which Hamas seized in June.

"We obviously want these talks to resume as soon as possible," Johndroe said.

He said Rice would deliver a clear message to the Palestinians: "The Palestinian people have a choice to make. It's a choice between terrorism, or a choice between a political solution that leads to a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel.

"The number one thing that has to happen is Hamas has got to stop targeting Israeli citizens with rockets. It must stop. The parties then need to get back to the negotiating table and have discussions," Johndroe said.

TWO STATE SOLUTION

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: "All this points out the need for there to be progress in the negotiations and ultimately have a two-state solution. That's the answer to the violence that we've seen.

On Wednesday, an Israeli civilian was killed by a rocket, the first such death since May. Hamas says it has stockpiled long-range rockets that can hit the center of the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, potentially posing a threat to some 250,000 residents of the city and areas close to Gaza.

Some experts were skeptical whether Rice, whose first stop is Egypt on Tuesday, should go at all and predicted her presence could exacerbate rather than reduce tensions.

"I think it is a mistake for Rice to travel to the region at this time. The public in the region sees the Bush administration as partly responsible for the devastation in Gaza and her appearance on the scene will only add to the anger," said Shibley Telhami, a professor at the University of Maryland.