Rice postpones trip to Jerusalem and Ramallah

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has postponed a trip to Jerusalem and Ramallah which had been due next week, US officials said Thursday.

"The secretary will postpone a planned step in Jerusalem and Ramallah until the end of the month," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, speaking just after President George W. Bush said he would send Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Middle East in August.

Bush told a White House news conference that the visits would reaffirm an American initiative to shore up international support for the government in Baghdad.

"We're also using the tools of diplomacy to strengthen regional and international support for Iraq's democratic government," Bush said.

Rice, who had been...