Rice in fresh bid to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks

Occupied Jerusalem: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embarked on a fresh effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks yesterday but said she would not present any concrete new initiative.

"I'm not coming with a proposal. I'm not coming with a plan," Rice told reporters on her way to Israel, according to a State Department transcript of her remarks.

US officials have sought to play down expectations for the trip, Rice's eighth to the region during her two years as secretary of state, and have suggested she is testing the waters to see what might be possible.

Rice was to meet Israel's defence and foreign ministers later yesterday and then see moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah today. She will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tomorrow.

"I expect this trip to really be one in which we have intensive consultations," Rice said.

"If you don't lay the groundwork very well, then it's not going to succeed. And I think no plan can be made in America."

Rice will also seek Arab help to stabilise Iraq during a Middle East trip that will include stops in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well as Germany and Britain.

Her visit comes just days after President George W. Bush said he would send 21,500 extra troops to Iraq despite fierce opposition from the new Democratic-led Congress.

Washington is under pressure from European and Arab allies to get more involved in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rice said she wanted to talk about accelerating the US-backed peace roadmap. Israelis and Palestinians have both failed to meet obligations under that peace blueprint.

Olmert and Abbas met on December 23 and agreed to try to revive peace negotiations that collapsed in 2000. Washington has been encouraging Olmert to meet Abbas again. Rice is expected to press Olmert to fulfil pledges made at the December meeting to remove West Bank roadblocks and release $100 million (around Dh367 million) in withheld tax funds to Abbas, Israeli officials said.

Analysts cite a host of obstacles to making real peace progress.

The most immediate is a violent power struggle between Abbas and the Hamas-led government.