Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - President Bush's pro-Israel speech in the Knesset disappointed the Palestinians but that does not mean that the peace process is off, a top Palestinian Authority negotiator said on Monday.

The London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi on Monday reported that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had concluded that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks had failed.

The report said Abbas plans to give a speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah blaming Israel and a lack of U.S. commitment for the failure of the talks.

But P.A. negotiator Saeb Erekat dismissed such reports as rumors and "rubbish."

"Abbas is committed to the peace process. He lives for this," Erekat told Cybercast News Service. Abbas had very candid talks with President Bush, said Erekat. But he admitted that Bush had "disappointed" the Palestinians by appearing to side with the Israelis.

President Bush wrapped up his Middle East trip on Sunday with an address to the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where he scolded Arab leaders.

Last Thursday, Bush delivered a speech to Israel's parliament, mentioning the "unbreakable" alliance between the U.S. and Israeli governments. "America is proud to be Israel's closest ally and best friend in the world," he said.

The speech came on the same day that Palestinians were marking the "catastrophe" that befell them when the State of Israel was created.

Bush "missed an opportunity," said Erekat. He can't talk as he did when the Palestinians still are not free, he said.

On Sunday, Bush told Palestinians they must "fight terror" and "continue to build the institutions of a free and peaceful society.

"Israel must make tough sacrifices for peace and ease the restrictions on the Palestinians. Arab states, especially oil-rich nations, must seize this opportunity to invest aggressively in the Palestinian people and to move past their old resentments against Israel," Bush said.

He added that all nations must "stand together in confronting Hamas," which is "attempting to undermine efforts at peace with acts of terror and violence."

Erekat said negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are continuing. Ahead of President Bush's visit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that progress was being made in the talks, but many still doubt whether an agreement can be reached by the end of Bush's term in office.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak traveled to Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday where he'll meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and discuss a possible Israeli-Hamas ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

The idea of a ceasefire or a "lull" in the fighting has been on the table for some time now, as Palestinian terrorists continue to launch rockets at Israel and Israel continues to carry out counter-terrorism operations in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is hesitant to accept a period of calm because Hamas has used such truces in the past to rebuild its military strength.

In the days leading up to President Bush's visit last week, two Israelis were killed in two separate rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip. In a third attack on Thursday, a rocket hit a mall in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, seriously wounding several people including a mother and child.

Israel revealed on Monday that it had arrested a Palestinian terrorist last month who had received advanced military training in Iran. Ala Abu-Madif allegedly agreed to serve as a suicide bomber, reports said.

Israel said that he left the Gaza Strip by way of the Rafah crossing into Egypt, flew to Damascus, Syria, and then on to Iran. Israeli security sources were quoted as saying that the arrest showed Iran's deep involvement in encouraging terrorism against Israel and Syrian assistance in transferring terrorists to Iran, state-run Israel radio reported.

Erekat said he believed the only way for Abbas to regain control over the Gaza Strip, lost in a violent Hamas coup nearly a year ago, was for Abbas to reach a peace agreement with Israel. They would then put the agreement before the people in a referendum, he said. He estimated that 70 percent or more of the Palestinians would accept a two-state solution.

But that was not the case as of mid-May, according to an opinion poll conducted among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Only 39.5 percent of those polled supported the idea of a two-state solution. Another 57.6 percent rejected the idea and 2.9 percent were undecided or had no opinion.