RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, emboldened by an outpouring of international support in his showdown against the Hamas militant group, said yesterday that now is the time to renew Mideast peace talks.Days after Hamas’ violent takeover of Gaza, the Palestinian rivals are headed in vastly different directions: Abbas’ newly formed West Bank government is being embraced internationally — winning a resumption of desperately needed American and European aid — while the Hamas rulers of Gaza face deepening isolation.

In a major boost for Abbas, the United States and the European Union, the two largest donors to the Palestinian government, said Monday were ending a 15-month aid embargo. The announcements cleared the way for the resumption of hundreds of millions of dollars (euros) in direct aid to the government, cut off in early 2006 after Hamas took power.

Abbas expelled Hamas from the Palestinian government last week after the militant Islamic group routed forces loyal to his Fatah movement and seized control of the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, militants in Gaza fired two rockets at southern Israel, the military and local media reported. One landed in the town of Sderot. Two Israelis were treated for shock. There was no claim of responsibility from Gaza.

From his base in the West Bank, Abbas dissolved the coalition and quickly formed a new government that excludes the Islamists. The new Cabinet, headed by Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad, took office on Sunday. Hamas called the move illegal, leaving the Palestinians with rival governments and endangering their dream of forming an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza.

US President George W. Bush called Abbas yesterday to offer his support to the Palestinian leader. During the 15-minute conversation, Abbas said he is ready to restart peace talks with Israel. Peacemaking broke down nearly seven years ago with the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising.

“President Abbas told Mr. Bush that this is the time to resume the political negotiations and to revive the hope of the Palestinian people,” said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh.

In Washington, the White House said Bush “pledged help and support” to Abbas. Bush told Abbas that he would share their thoughts on how to proceed with Olmert, White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

“What’s important is, you have to have a partner who is committed to peace, and we believe that President Abbas is,” Snow said. “And therefore we are committed to working with this new emergency government.”

Olmert already has said the new Palestinian government has created a “new opportunity” for peacemaking and said he is eager to bolster Abbas — most likely by releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax transfers that Israel cut off after Hamas took power, and by easing checkpoints and travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank. It remains unclear, however, how much peace talks could accomplish, given the uncertainty in Gaza.

The 15-month embargo against the Palestinian government has crippled the Palestinian economy, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid. Under the sanctions, the government was unable to pay its 165,000 employees regular salaries. The government is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza, sustaining about one-third of Palestinian families.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she informed Fayyad of the decision to resume direct aid in a phone call earlier yesterday.

“I told him the United States would resume full assistance to the Palestinian government and normal government-to-government contacts,” she told reporters at the State Department. “I told the prime minister that we want to work with his government and support his efforts to enforce the rule of law and to ensure a better life for the Palestinian people.”

In Luxembourg, EU foreign ministers announced a similar lifting of the aid embargo.

The Gaza-West Bank division has complicated matters for the US and the European Union. Both support Abbas’ claim that he is the ruler of all Palestinians. But with Hamas in control of Gaza, officials close to Abbas acknowledged they haven’t yet figured out how to distribute aid in the area.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the Europeans will continue to deliver aid for Gaza — where humanitarian conditions are more dire than in the West Bank — through the United Nations or an ad-hoc programme whose handouts to many thousands of individual Palestinians bypass the Hamas administration.

“We absolutely have to back” the new government in the West Bank, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said. “The question of today is: How can we help the 1.4 million people in Gaza?”

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused the international community of hypocrisy, noting that Hamas defeated Fatah in January 2006 parliamentary elections.

“This confirms the falseness of the international community’s support for democracy,” he said. He repeated the Hamas position that Fayyad’s government is illegal and said Hamas “will resolve all problems”.

Despite such claims, Hamas officials have given no indication on how they plan overcome their international isolation.

Israel and Egypt have sealed off Gaza’s borders, raising fears of a possible humanitarian crisis.

In Gaza, panicked residents stocked up on basic supplies over the weekend, fearing shortages of food, fuel and other staples.