Rice Calls for Palestinian Cooperation

The United States secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, promised today to improve living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, insisting America was "very concerned" about the plight of Palestinians.

Speaking after a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Ms Rice said the Bush administration would "redouble efforts" towards Palestinians.

Her comments were immediately rebuffed by the leader of the Hamas-led government, who accused the US of trying to "rearrange" the Middle East.

Ms Rice, in the region with hopes of reviving the stalled peace efforts, has portrayed this week's visit as an opportunity to "rally moderate forces and moderate voices" following the Israeli-Hizbullah war in summer and ahead of looming confrontation with Iran.

However, for many Arabs, the visit by the US secretary of state was not welcome.

Ms Rice called on militants to cooperate with Mr Abbas, saying the Hamas government was not capable of governing the region.

In response, the prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, said that Ms Rice "cares only to rearrange this region and to rearrange the Palestinian scene in a way that serves the American and Israeli agenda".

Mr Abbas said talks with Hamas on forming a more moderate coalition government had broken down.

He added that a new cabinet must be formed to end a recent surge in violence between Hamas fighters and those loyal to his Fatah movement that has claimed 10 lives in three days, though he did not give any further details.

Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in January, refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist despite crushing international sanctions.

Ms Rice has made it plain there would be no end to the US-directed boycott which experts claim is stoking the tensions between Hamas and Fatah.

Today's talks in Ramallah were the Bush administration's third meeting in less than three weeks with Mr Abbas, who the US president, George Bush, called a "man of courage" for trying to revive peace talks.