RAMALLAH, West Bank — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today the United States wants an "urgent and enduring" peace in the Middle East, where people can solve problems without resorting to war.

Talking to reporters here after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Rice said, "We need to get to a sustainable peace, there must be a way for people to reconcile their differences."

Earlier, meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, she said the time has come for a new Middle East. "I have no doubt there are those who wish to strangle a democratic and sovereign Lebanon in its crib," Rice said

In Israel, she reiterated the U.S. position that a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon must come with conditions, saying there is "no desire" on the part of U.S. officials to come back in weeks or months after terrorists find another way to disrupt any potential cease fire. Rice is working on two fronts — Israel's tensions with the Palestinians as well as the fighting to its north along its border with Lebanon, where two weeks of fighting with Lebanese Hezbollah militia have left hundreds of civilians dead, mostly on the Lebanese side.