Rice Pledges To Assist Palestinians

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Secretary of State Rice said yesterday that America is "very concerned" about the plight of the Palestinian Arabs and pledged to improve living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In the region in hopes of reviving long-moribund peace efforts, Ms. Rice said America will "redouble efforts" to help the Palestinian Arabs. She spoke after meeting the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier, Ms. Rice called on Islamic militants to cooperate with Mr. Abbas, saying the Hamas government cannot govern in the region. She has been seeking to boost Mr. Abbas in his standoff with Hamas radicals who control part of the Palestinian Arab government.

Mr. Abbas said earlier yesterday that talks with Hamas on forming a more moderate coalition government have broken down. Mr. Abbas also said a new Cabinet must be formed to end a recent surge in violence that claimed 10 lives in three days. He didn't elaborate.

"There is no dialogue now," Mr. Abbas said at a news conference with Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa of Bahrain before Ms. Rice arrived.

A preliminary coalition agreement announced September 11 "is over now, and we have to start from square one," he said.

Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in January, refuses to moderate its violently anti-Israel ideology, despite crushing international sanctions.

Before heading to Mr. Abbas's headquarters in the West Bank, Ms. Rice met with a group of moderate Palestinian Arab politicians in Jerusalem, including members of Mr. Abbas's Fatah Party.

One of the participants, Fatah official Kadoura Fares, said he planned to discuss the need for a strong Fatah in the interest of reaching peace with Israel.

Ms. Rice is on a Middle East tour this week to strengthen moderate forces in the region, including Mr. Abbas.

The meetings came as 135 former world leaders called for "fresh thinking and the injection of new political will" to resolve the conflict between Arabs and Israelis. Signees of the statement, organized by the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization based in Brussels, included former world leaders such as President Carter and Prime Minister Major of Britain.

"As long as the conflict lasts, it will generate instability and violence in the region and beyond," it said.

Ms. Rice saw Egypt's longtime leader, President Mubarak, for a private meeting before she left Cairo for Israel and the West Bank.

She got both a polite hearing and a lecture Tuesday from the America's two most powerful friends in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia and Egypt both said the Middle East's many volatile conflicts are hinged to Israel's long conflict with the Palestinian Arabs.

Arab nations, including the few moderate states that are key to American goals in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon, view improving the Palestinian Arabs' lot as essential. They argue that the festering grievances of the stateless Palestinians feed unrest and extremism elsewhere.

"The issue is how to make peace, and in order to make peace, you have to identify the problem," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt said during a sometimes strained news conference with Ms. Rice.

"We think and we claim and we keep telling everybody that it is the Palestinian problem and the lack of a settlement for the Palestinians. The Palestinian problem is the scourge of this region," Mr. Gheit said.

Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudia Arabia said the nearly 60-year-old conflict was creating a "breeding ground for extremism."

"There is a very short step from extremism to terrorism," Mr. Saud said with Ms. Rice by his side in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. "And ever since the problem arose of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the region has been destabilized."

Ms. Rice's talks in Ramallah will be the administration's third meeting in less than three weeks with Mr. Abbas, whom President Bush called a "man of courage" for trying to revive Middle East peace talks.