US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that she believed a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians was still possible this year and urged the two sides to resume suspended talks.
"I still believe that that can be done," Ms Rice said of the chances of reaching a statehood agreement in 2008.
With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at her side in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Ms Rice added: "We look forward to the resumption of those negotiations as soon as possible."
Earlier Ms Rice, on a Middle East trip aimed at salvaging the US-brokered peace process, insisted that Israel had the right to defend itself.
She claimed Hamas was trying to wreck Palestinian statehood talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Mr Abbas, who cut off talks last weekend.
A Palestinian boy cries at the funeral of a relative killed by Israeli troops at the weekend.
Despite calling for an end to violence that has killed almost 120 Palestinians - around half of them civilians - Ms Rice did not demand a ceasefire.
Israeli troops pulled out of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip yesterday after international appeals, but a senior official said it was a "two-day interval" during Ms Rice's visit, and Mr Olmert said Israel would not tolerate attacks.
Ms Rice is set to move on to the West Bank to see Mr Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad later today. She will then go to Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders, before leaving for Brussels on Wednesday for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers.