Jerusalem ? Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, striking a note of optimism on her first visit to the Middle East as the top U.S. diplomat, urged Israeli leaders Sunday to make the “hard decisions” needed to promote a democratic Palestinian state and put the peace process back on track.

Rice met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon just days before a planned Middle East summit aimed at resuscitating efforts to end more than four years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

“This is a hopeful time, but this also is a time of great responsibility for all of us to make certain that we act on the words that we speak,” she told reporters with Sharon at her side. The prime minister said the visit “will contribute to the peace process, which we would so much like to advance in the region.”

Rice’s visit came on a day that saw conciliatory gestures from both sides. Israeli Defense Minster Shaul Mofaz told the Cabinet on Sunday that the army would hold off on operations aimed at capturing Palestinian militants, Israeli media reported. The mainstream Palestinian movement Fatah, meanwhile, issued a call for a mutual cease-fire with Israel.

Also this weekend, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators made headway on the number of prisoners Israel will free as a goodwill gesture, an issue expected to be on the agenda at Tuesday’s summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik.

In a television interview after her meeting with Sharon, Rice urged Israel to avoid taking unilateral action on issues reserved for formal peace talks, such as the status of Jerusalem, which is claimed by both sides.

Rice has said she plans to be directly involved in efforts to revive the U.S.-backed peace “road map” at a moment when the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s plan to abandon the Gaza Strip have created perhaps the most promising chance for progress since violence erupted in September 2000.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lays a wreath in front of the Eternal Fire, inside the Hall of Remembrance, at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, in Jerusalem. Rice arrived in the region Sunday for separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, who will sit down together in the upcoming Mideast summit in Egypt.

Rice will meet with Palestinian officials, including newly elected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, today before heading to Rome as part of an eight-day overseas swing.

The Mideast stop is meant to underscore the Bush administration’s determination to revive its road-map initiative, which stalled because neither side lived up to preliminary commitments.

Bush has been widely criticized for taking a hands-off approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after watching his predecessor, Bill Clinton, fail in an intensive personal effort to broker an agreement.