Rice to Press Mideast Peace Discussions

The Associated Press
Friday, September 28, 2007; 2:19 PM

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next week to press Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts amid doubts from some Arab states about the usefulness of an international meeting she plans to host in the fall, the State Department said Wednesday.

Rice will make stops in Israel and the Palestinian territories on Sept. 19 and 20 to urge Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas to build on recent positive steps and lay the groundwork for the upcoming meeting that President Bush announced in July, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Her visit will follow an agreement reached between the two sides this week to set up senior negotiating teams with an eye toward reaching a general outline of a peace deal in time for the conference, which has yet to be scheduled but is expected in November.

"She's going to talk to each side ... about how we can help move that process forward," McCormack said. He would not rule out the possibility that Rice would bring Olmert and Abbas together for a three-way meeting.

The brief trip comes as the United States is trying to build support for the international meeting but has met resistance from traditional Arab allies concerned that it might not produce much.

Egypt and Jordan, which both have peace deals with Israel, along with Saudi Arabia have said they are not interested in attending the session unless it has a chance of achieving concrete results.

McCormack said Rice would be consulting with those three countries, along with other potential participants following her trip next week and that Washington agreed the meeting should not be just a show.

"Nobody wants to see just a photo op, we couldn't agree more," he said.