Ramallah - The Middle East peace process is not dead, despite a Palestinian decision to freeze talks with Israel in light of the recent tit-for-tat violence in the Gaza Strip, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday. "I don't think it is dead, it has to be revitalized and I hope this will be done soon," he told reporters as he left a meeting in Ramallah with Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
"The cooperation of all the parties will be needed and the international community will continue to support that," he added.
Solana spoke shortly before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to arrive for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, expected to focus on ways of getting the peace process going again.
Over the weekend, the Palestinians suspended the peace talks, only restarted in December after a seven-year hiatus, in response to the violence in the Gaza Strip, in which 125 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes and in heavy ground fighting, and Gaza-based militants showered southern Israel with 258 missiles and mortars.
