In a bid to bolster the Palestinian Authority's President, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice vowed yesterday to expand the United States' role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, with the goal of moving to a Palestinian state.

Dr Rice said the US was "deeply committed" to finding ways to accelerate the stalled "road map" peace plan to "show to the Palestinian people how we might move toward the establishment of a Palestinian state".

"I have heard loud and clear the call for deeper American engagement in these processes. You will have my commitment to do precisely that," she said to President Mahmoud Abbas.

Dr Rice offered no details on how the US would expand its involvement. Israeli officials said Dr Rice was exploring options that included creating a Palestinian state with temporary borders, an idea Mr Abbas rejected.

"I have stressed to the Secretary of State our rejection of temporary solutions, including provisional borders for our state," Mr Abbas said with Dr Rice at his side at a West Bank news conference.

Palestinians fear such temporary borders would become final, creating a truncated state.

The US wants Mr Abbas to win his showdown with the ruling Hamas Islamists, a group Washington labels terrorists.

The US plans to pour $US86 million ($A110 million) into helping train and equip Mr Abbas' presidential guard.

Hamas receives aid from Iran and other Islamist allies, and is building an "executive force".

Dr Rice met Israeli ministers on Saturday but said she had not come with a specific plan to jump-start peace negotiations that collapsed in 2000.

The peace plan has not moved past stage one due to Israel's failure to halt settlement building in the West Bank and the Palestinians' failure to dismantle militant groups.

REUTERS