Rice calls for cease-fire

Rice reiterated her call for enduring Mideast truce, suggesting that the U.S. is siding with Israel's demand that Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas be neutralized before any halt in fighting.

Photo: Rice calls for cease-fire

She said she briefed Abbas on Washington's efforts to "bring about an urgent, but enduring cease-fire in Lebanon, one that can deal with the causes of extremism, and lead to the establishment of sovereignty for the Lebanese government throughout its territory."

Israel has demanded that Hezbollah be disarmed and that the Lebanese army deploy on the Israeli-Lebanese border to prevent attacks by militants on Israel.

Abbas, meanwhile, renewed a call for an Israeli-Palestinian truce, following a monthlong Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, launched to free a kidnapped Israeli soldier, the AP reports.