Rice in Mideast to Push for Resumption of Palestinian- Israeli Talks

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice kicked off a new Middle East visit on Tuesday, in a bid to help revive the halted Palestinian-Israeli talks.

After a two-hour meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rice said she still has confidence to resume the talks.

"What we are trying to achieve is indeed not easy, that is to conclude an agreement that can lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state, to conclude that agreement by the end of this year. I still believe that that can be done."

Abbas also agreed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved through peace negotiations and not through violence

"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."

However, he didn't give a date for the resumption of the halted peace talks.

The Palestinian National Authority decided to halt the peace negotiations on permanent status issues, in protest to an Israeli operation into Gaza that killed more than 100 people within one week.