June 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. rejected criticism by the leader of the Palestinian Hamas group that the Middle East peace process is too slow, saying it is trying to bring all parties back to talks.

“We’re encouraging all parties to take steps that will lead to a positive context, that will lead to renewed negotiations,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said at a briefing in Washington.

Hamas wants “change on the ground that will bring an end to the occupation” of the Palestinian territories, Khalid Mashaal, the group’s leader, said late yesterday in Syria’s capital, Damascus, Agence France-Presse reported.

President Barack Obama, in a speech in Cairo earlier this month, said he was seeking a “new beginning” with Muslims and said Israel and the Palestinians deserved separate states. Mashaal at the time welcomed Obama’s “new language.”

“We hail the new line from Barack Obama toward Hamas,” AFP cited Mashaal as saying yesterday. “It is the first step toward direct talks without preconditions.”

Kelly said he didn’t agree with Mashaal’s assessment that progress is too slow. The U.S. is working hard to reach the “goal we need for the region, a comprehensive peace agreement,” he said, according to a State Department transcript.

Control of Gaza

Hamas defeated the Fatah party led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in January 2006 elections and, in an armed confrontation with Fatah’s militia, took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after a coalition government ended.

The U.S., European Union and Israel designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and won’t have dealings with the group until it renounces violence and recognizes Israel.

The Obama administration has said Israel must stop settlement expansion in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to stop construction of new settlements while continuing to expand existing ones.

Netanyahu said yesterday he expects to be able to resolve differences with the U.S. over settlements in the West Bank.

“I believe that with good will it is possible,” Netanyahu said in Paris yesterday. He spoke at a news conference after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Hamas rejects Netanyahu’s positions on the status of East Jerusalem, settlements and the return of Palestinian and “his vision of a demilitarized Palestinian state deprived of sovereignty over its lands, airspace and territorial waters,” Mashaal said, according to AFP.