WASHINGTON - SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next week to pursue efforts for a deal on the contours of Israeli-Palestinian peace before handing over to a new US administration.
'Secretary of State Rice will travel to Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Egypt from Nov 5 to 9,' just after US presidential election results are likely to be known, her deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.
'She will meet with her quartet counterparts and senior government officials to discuss efforts to achieve positive and lasting peace in the region, consistent with the Annapolis process and the shared goal of a two-states solution,' Mr Wood said.
Ms Rice helped revive the peace talks in November last year in Annapolis, Maryland, based on a 'road map' launched in 2003 by the quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
The Israelis and Palestinians pledged last year to secure a deal enshrining the road map goal of a Palestinian state living in peace next to a secure Israel by the time President George W. Bush leaves office on Jan 20.
Although both sides have begun tackling simultaneously the core issues of borders, the status of Jerusalem and refugees - an adjustment to the roadmap - they have made little visible progress toward achieving that goal.
An Egyptian official said the quartet will meet in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Nov 9 to review the peace negotiations. A European Union diplomat in Brussels said that the meeting would be held from Nov 8-9 and include Israeli and Palestinian delegates.
On Sept 26, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the quartet members urged Israel and the Palestinians 'to make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008' on all the core issues.
The quartet said it would be informed of the progress in negotiations during a meeting with the parties in the region before the end of the year.
It will be Ms Rice's 19th visit to the Middle East in two years, and the eighth visit since she and Mr Bush hosted the international conference in Annapolis.
With chances of a breakthrough appearing slimmer than ever, Ms Rice has nonetheless pledged to leave 'no stone unturned' in her quest for a deal defining the contours of peace by Jan 20.
As time draws near 'for the end of this administration, I still believe that we must make every effort in the time that we have to lay this foundation for peace,' Ms Rice told a conference here two weeks ago.
