( dpa )- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice departed Monday for the Middle East seeking to get the Israeli- Palestinian peace process back on track.
Her trip comes amidst some of the worst violence in years, with at least 116 people killed in Gaza since Wednesday - the highest Palestinian casualty toll in Israeli actions since the 1967 war.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday pulled out of peace talks to protest Israel's massive military response to rocket attacks by Hamas.
"We obviously want these talks to resume as soon as possible," said Gordon Johndroe, the spokesman for the White House's National Security Council.
The violence has threated to undo the US-backed peace negotiations which resumed after President George W Bush hosted the November Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to the goal of reaching an agreement by the end of this year to create a Palestinian state.
Johndroe said that despite the violence, the Bush administration remains determined to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
"We're going to keep on pursuing it," he said. "It is in the best interest of the Palestinian people, it's in the best interest of the Israeli people, it's in the best interest of the people in the region and the whole wide world."