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Rice to meet Middle East leaders Rice meets Abbas in new peace bid
(about 2 hours later)
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as part of her Middle East tour. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is holding talks in the West Bank with Mahmoud Abbas as part of efforts to shore up the Palestinian leader.
She will visit him in the West Bank town of Ramallah before heading to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. It comes amid a growing political crisis, after Mr Abbas said talks on forming a national unity government with Hamas had broken down.
Her trip is billed as an effort to restart the stalled peace process, but correspondents say there are no signs of any concrete proposals emerging. Ms Rice is also due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
She will not be having any contact with the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Her visit, aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, is part of a wider regional trip.
Hours before he was due to meet Ms Rice, Mr Abbas said talks with Hamas on forming a unity government with his Fatah group had broken down. But the BBC's Matt Prodger in Jerusalem says neither the Israeli nor Palestinian governments are ready for negotiations with one another, and there is little expectation that the visit by Ms Rice will change that.
"The dialogue now does not exist," he said, warning he might dissolve the Hamas-led government. 'No dialogue'
Shortly before he was due to meet Ms Rice, Mr Abbas said month-long national unity talks with the Hamas-led government had collapsed.
We have to start from square one Mahmoud AbbasPalestinian leader Rice courts moderate Arabs "There is no dialogue now," said Mr Abbas.
A preliminary agreement with Hamas to form a coalition with Fatah "is now over and we have to start from square one," he added.
Mr Abbas indicated he might use his executive powers to dissolve the Hamas-led government if the stalemate continues.
The Palestinian Authority has faced a political crisis since Hamas won elections in January. Its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence triggered a Western boycott.
Mr Abbas has been seeking to form a coalition government with his more moderate Fatah party on a platform which would be acceptable to the international community.
On Tuesday, Ms Rice said the Palestinians "need a government that can engage the international community and can engage the broad consensus that a two-state solution is the answer".
Factional fightingFactional fighting
The two parties have been in discussions on forming a coalition since mid-September. This is Ms Rice's first trip to the region since the ceasefire in August which ended the month-long conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
The power struggle has erupted into violence in recent days, leaving 10 people dead and more than 100 wounded. She has already met Egyptian and Saudi leaders.
This is Ms Rice's first trip to the region since the end of a month-long conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
She has already met Egyptian and Saudi leaders during her trip, seeking to "engage moderate leaders" at US President George W Bush's behest.
President Bush may want to revive the peace process, but it is hard to see how Rice courts moderate Arabs
Many commentators believe the purpose of her trip is to illustrate US engagement in order to reassure pro-western Arab governments in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Jerusalem.Many commentators believe the purpose of her trip is to illustrate US engagement in order to reassure pro-western Arab governments in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Jerusalem.
Before her talks with Mr Abbas, Ms Rice met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Meanwhile an 11th person has died in fighting between Hamas and Fatah gunmen in the West Bank and Gaza over the past few days.
Ms Rice said on Tuesday that the Palestinians "need a government that can engage the international community and can engage the broad consensus that a two-state solution is the answer". In the latest violence, unidentified masked gunmen killed a Hamas leader in the West Bank, a day after Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militants threatened to kill senior Hamas members.
At a news conference in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said solving the Palestinian problem was central to achieving peace in the region.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal also called for greater US efforts to restart the Middle East peace process.
He said the failure to address the plight of the Palestinians was one of the region's core problems.
Hamas came to power in March following its crushing defeat of Fatah in January elections.
Israeli and Western donors cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas rejected demands to renounce violence and recognise Israel.
Unrest has spiralled in the Palestinian territories over the government's inability to pay civil servants and security forces.
In the latest violence, masked gunmen have killed a Hamas leader in the West Bank, a day after a rival Palestinian faction threatened to kill senior Hamas members.