Rice to visit Mideast later this month: Palestinians

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

JERUSALEM (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories later this month to spur Middle East peace talks, a senior Palestinian negotiator said Sunday.

Rice is to meet with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on August 25 before holding three-way talks with the top negotiators, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and senior Palestinian diplomat Ahmed Qorei, Saeb Erakat told AFP.

The two sides formally relaunched the peace process after a seven-year hiatus at a US conference in November with the goal of signing a full peace deal by the time US President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.

The talks have made little visible progress since then, however, with the two sides remaining deeply divided on...