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Pale stinian leaders expressed concern Friday that the United States was giving a free hand to the Israeli military as the peace process broke down in a new wave of violence.

Their alarm came as Palestinian militants and moderates struggled to bridge their differences amid intense US lobbying for an end to their 32-month-old intifada, or uprising.

They complained of statements by senior US officials Thursday singling out the radical Palestinian group Hamas as the main culprit in the bloodshed that has left more than 60 people dead since an peace summit on June 4.

"We are asking the United States to put pressure on the Israeli government" to halt its attacks, said Nabil Abu Rudeina, top adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"It is not acceptable to put pressure only on the Palestinian side because the Israelis are continuing their escalation and aggression," he told AFP.

Abu Rudeina said the spate of Israeli helicopter attacks that has killed two dozen Palestinians this week threatened efforts to implement the roadmap for peace pushed by US President George W.

Bush at the summit in Aqaba, Jordan.

"We need international intervention immediately to stop the Israeli escalation and aggression," he said. He added that the "next 48 hours will be very critical" to prospects for salvaging the peace process, but did not elaborate.

The United States reprimanded Israel for a helicopter raid on Tuesday aimed at blowing up a senior Hamas leader. But it noticeably changed its tone after a Hamas suicide bomber killed 17 other people on a Jerusalem bus the following day.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer made it clear Thursday that Israel was not the problem for Washington. "The terrorists are Hamas," he said. "They are the enemies to peace, in the president's judgment." US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he made a round of phone calls to Middle East leaders urging them to "come down hard" on Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and "other terrorist organisations." Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior Hamas official, complained that the United States was encouraging Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to "wage war on the Palestinian people.

"These statements can only promote new Zionist aggression and throw oil on the fire," he told AFP.

The United States also put the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmud Abbas, on notice that it expected him to rein in the militants. But the violence has changed Israeli attitudes toward Abbas from cautious curiosity to outright scorn.

Israeli radio Thursday quoted Sharon as describing Abbas as "a featherless little chick who needs to be assisted in his fight against terrorism until his feathers start growing." Abbas has been seeking to keep a dialogue open with the militants, but Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group were infuriated by his vow at the Aqaba summit to stamp out what he called their "terrorist" activities.

Shanab remained vague about whether Hamas would resume talks with Abbas that it broke off after Aqaba, saying only that if the prime minister makes the opening, "we will discuss it among ourselves to decide if we agree to renew the dialogue." A senior Hamas official, who asked not to be named, said the group had held "consultations" with members of Abbas' government but no formal meetings at this stage - Sapa-AFP

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