WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would leave Sunday to spearhead international Middle East crisis talks but again refused to back calls for an immediate ceasefire as fighting raged in Lebanon.
Rice said she would go to Israel to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, would also see Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, and join a conference of Arab and European nations in Rome, on the violence paralysing Lebanon.
The Rome conference would bring together the core group on Lebanon, which includes France, Britain, Lebanon, the European Union, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Italy, United Nations and the World Bank.
But Rice warned that demands from many of those nations for an immediate ceasefire belonged in the "old" Middle East as they ignored what Washington said was the cause of the conflict -- support of Hezbollah by Iran and Syria.
"A ceasefire would be a false promise if it simply returns us to the status quo," Rice said.
"This is a different Middle East. It's a new Middle East. It's hard, We're going through a very violent time," she said.
"What we're seeing here ... are the birth pangs of a new Middle East and whatever we do, we have to be certain that we are pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old one."
In another sign that diplomatic efforts were reaching a higher gear, the White House said Rice would join President George W. Bush Sunday to discuss the crisis with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Earlier Friday, Rice had a 45-minute meeting in New York with a United Nations team just back from the crisis-torn region, as the White House hit back at claims it was adopting go-slow tactics to give Israel time to neutralize Hezbollah.
Washington is increasingly mentioning its Arab allies as critical to ending the crisis, in the hope they can influence Syria and Iran which it accuses of sponsoring Hezbollah.
Critics say that track merely underscores the reality that Washington does not talk to either Syria and Iran -- which it accuses of sponsoring Hezbollah.
Several leading European envoys including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy are also travelling to the region.
Rice made plans for the trip as Israel pummelled Lebanon with a 10th day of airstrikes and mobilised more troops after warning it could launch a full-scale ground invasion -- a move which would raise the stakes alarmingly.
She earlier sat down with UN Middle East crisis team of Vijay Nambiar, Alvaro de Soto and Terje Roed-Larsen at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel.
On Thursday night, Rice had a private dinner with Kofi Annan to discuss the crisis, hours after the UN secretary general demanded an immediate ceasefire in fighting which erupted when Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.
The White House rejected criticism of the US approach, and what some say is the delay in sending Rice to the region.
"The critics have got it wrong. The United States has been very actively engaged on the diplomatic front ever since the beginning of this," said spokesman Tony Snow.
Rice had spoken "repeatedly" with the region's officials and President George W. Bush has been talking to "leaders who are not only in the neighborhood" but who can influence the situation, he said.
"Nobody's been more diplomatically active than we have."
As civilian deaths mount in Lebanon, Bush administration critics have charged Washington is holding off European and Arab demands for an immediate ceasefire to give Israel's military action as much leeway as possible.
Rice due to head on to the Middle East, before travelling on to Malaysia where she plans to meet Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) ministers and attend the ASEAN regional forum security summit.
It was possible she could return to the Middle East if circumstances permit after that.
07/21/2006 18:40 GMT