The U.S.-backed Palestinian president rebuffed the Bush administration's request Tuesday to quickly end a walkout of peace talks with Israel, saying Israeli military bombardment of civilians in the Gaza Strip is unacceptable under any circumstance.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said negotiations are the only solution, and defended Israel's right to seek out militants who use the tiny Hamas-held territory as a launching pad for increasing numbers of rockets targeting civilians in southern Israel.
"I understand the difficulties of the current moment," Rice said following meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We all must keep an eye on what is important."
She won no public promise that Palestinians would end their boycott soon. U.S. officials say they understand his political predicament and predict talks will resume after a brief lull. Abbas was not expected to relent before Rice leaves the Middle East on Wednesday.
"I call on the Israeli government to halt its aggression so the necessary environment can be created to make negotiations succeed, for us and for them, to reach the shores of peace in 2008," Abbas said. He was referring to the goal _ stated at a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference in November _ of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty by the end of the year.
"Negotiations are going to have to be able to withstand the efforts of rejectionists to upset them, to create chaos and violence, so that people react by deciding not to negotiate, " Rice said in Egypt at the start of two days of Mideast meetings overshadowed by the Gaza crisis. "That's the game of those who don't want to see a Palestinian state established."
Abbas pulled out of negotiations Sunday in protest over Israel's weekend sweep, which has killed more than 120 Palestinians. Abbas has given no date for returning.
"No one can under any kind of pretext justify what the Israeli military have conducted over the past days," an angry Abbas told reporters, with Rice at his side.
The best Rice got from Abbas during their joint public appearance in Ramallah was affirmation that his government remains pledged to the peace path charted by Bush last fall. The negotiations are supposed to yield a deal outlining an independent Palestinian state this year.
The violence transformed Rice's scheduled mission to encourage progress in peace talks that have shown no public sign of breakthrough. Instead, Rice was just trying to restore the talks.
The Bush administration has staked peace hopes on Abbas' West Bank government, freezing out Hamas militants who seized the smaller, poorer Gaza Strip in June. Hamas is pledged to Israel's destruction.
Although Abbas has had little power over the coastal area of 1.4 million people since Hamas took over, the high death toll inflamed public opinion in both territories against Israel and made it difficult for him to continue the talks.
In Washington, President Bush said he remains optimistic.
With only 10 months left in his presidency, Bush said Tuesday he still believes there is "plenty of time" to get a Mideast peace deal before his term ends.
"This is a process that always two steps forward and one step back," Bush said after meeting at the White House with Jordan's King Abdullah II. "We just need to make sure that it's just one step back."
Fighting escalated sharply last week after Israel mounted an onslaught in northern Gaza to retaliate for Palestinian rocket fire that reached closer to Israel's heartland than ever before. Israel pulled out its ground forces on Monday, but has continued air assaults against persistent Palestinian attacks.
On Tuesday, militants hit a house in the rocket-weary town of Sderot, causing no injuries but extensive damage. Another landed in an open area.
Israeli forces responded by launching several air and ground strikes on rocket squads and Hamas installations Tuesday, killing one militant and wounding another, Hamas said. The body of a Palestinian militant was also found near the Gaza-Israel border. Medics said it was not clear when the man had been killed.
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