The United States has blamed the Palestinians for the deadlock in Middle East diplomacy and said there was no alternative to the peace plan known as the road map.
"I don't want to sugarcoat this," State Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher told a daily briefing. "The main problem now is terrorism and violence and the Palestinian Authority needs to take hold of that problem if we are to move forward."
Mr Boucher said the United States was closely watching events in the Palestinian legislature, where Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas asked for new security powers today.
Mr Abbas, the Palestinian politician favored by Washington as against popularly elected President Yasser Arafat, also criticized Israel and the United States, saying they had not done enough to make progress possible on the peace plan.
Mr Boucher defended US diplomacy, saying both sides thought the other side had not done enough. The United States would keep pressing them to meet their commitments under the plans - a crackdown on militants by the Palestinian Authority and a withdrawal from some Palestinian areas on the Israeli side, he added.
"Our goal is to push this (the road map) in a forward direction ... because there is no alternative that can give security in the daily lives of Israelis and Palestinians.
"There is really no alternative to the road map. Beyond the road map is the cliff," he said.