Rice Says She Registers Mideast Demands

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stand together following a press conference at Abbas' office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2007. Rice launched her latest tour of the Mideast on Saturday with an effort to nudge Israel and the Palestinians closer to a political accommodation. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer) (Kevin Frayer - AP)

Abbas rejected one idea Sunday that Israel considers promising: the establishment of a provisional Palestinian state in temporary borders.

Abbas also complained to Rice that Israel has not followed through on promises made at his much-awaited meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last month.

Israeli media reported that hardline deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, told Rice that the Israeli Army will have to re-enter the Gaza Strip at some point, and that 30,000 U.N. troops are needed to secure the chaotic Palestinian territory on Israel's southern flank.

Lieberman has in the past said Israel should assassinate Hamas' leadership, ignore the moderate Palestinian president and walk away from international peace efforts. His ideas do not necessarily carry weight, but Rice defended the decision to meet with him.

"I'm going to enlist the support of anybody I can to try and move forward a Palestinian state living at peace side by side with Israel," Rice said. "That is the goal here."

Rice tried to lower expectations for talks meant to help frame possible peace initiatives for Bush's remaining two years in office. Various ideas under consideration would rearrange elements of a U.S.-backed peace plan dormant since its release in 2003.

Rice said the United States wants to "accelerate" the peace plan, but she has not given specifics.

The plan envisions a three-stage, three-year program to create an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The step-by-step approach seeks specific concessions from both sides before moving to new issues, meaning it quickly can bog down if the conditions are not met.

Before Rice arrived, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had seemed to endorse the notion of skipping some of the elements of the plan's first phase and jumping to the second phase, which would set up a placeholder state with temporary borders.

Livni gave a much vaguer description of that idea in a session with Rice on Saturday. Although Rice has not ruled it out, she has not explained how it would fit into the overall deal.

Palestinian officials in recent weeks have grown wary of the idea, believing it would enable Israel to usurp much of the West Bank, where Israel continues to build Jewish settlements.