Rice Seeks to Rescue Middle East Peace Talks

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rice is trying to keep Palestinian Arabs and Israelis talking despite open warfare between the two sides that engulfed the Gaza Strip.

Although Israeli troops pulled out of Gaza early today, Palestinian Arab leaders exited peace talks, at least temporarily, after Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian Arab terrorists who use the tiny Gaza territory controlled by the militant Hamas movement to fire rockets into Israel.

The White House blamed Hamas for causing the fighting between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs that has killed more than 100 Palestinian Arabs, roughly half of them civilians. One Israeli civilian was killed by a Hamas rocket, and two Israeli soldiers were killed.

"The Palestinians have a choice to make," a spokesman for President Bush's National Security Council, Gordon Johndroe, said. He said it's a choice between terrorism or a political solution that leads to a Palestinian Arab state living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel.

The Israeli offensive has drawn widespread condemnation, with the European Union, Turkey, and Secretary-General Ban accusing Israel of using excessive force. But Mr. Johndroe would not say if America thought Israel was using excessive force.

"We obviously don't want innocent civilians to lose their life," he said. "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."

The crisis has exposed the limitations of the Bush administration's strategy to focus peace efforts on the American-backed West Bank government while cutting off the militant government in Gaza. It also recalls Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. If the Israeli government chooses to re-enter Gaza it could put America in the middle of another conflict.

Gaza, and the Palestinian Arab leadership split that underlies the crisis, is the largest potential deal-killer for Mr. Bush's goal to sign a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs before he leaves office next January.

Thus, new urgency has been infused in Ms. Rice's previously scheduled trip to Egypt, the Palestinian Arab territories, and Israel.

At Ms. Rice's first stop tomorrow in Egypt, Gaza will be her main topic of conversation, according to a spokesman for the State Department, Tom Casey, who said the secretary would raise with Egyptian officials both the humanitarian needs of Gazans and continued smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza.