Rice Will Return to the Region

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to make a post-election attempt to jump-start stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians when she returns to the region on November 5. Her four-day tour will take the SecState to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, and Jordan. Her final stop will be Sharm A-Sheikh, Egypt, where she will confer with other members of the Quartet – the international entity sponsoring negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Rice’s trip falls just one-week short of the first anniversary of the Annapolis conference, at which the parties vowed virtual non-stop efforts to achieve an agreement before President Bush leaves office in January. Annapolis has since come to symbolize a lack of progress and ineffective diplomacy. International aid agencies operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been clamoring for the Quartet to move the process along and help resolve the stalemate they say prevents residents from improving their deteriorating situations. Nevertheless, some argue the political state-of-affairs – including the de-throning of Ehud Olmert – has opened certain possibilities for diplomatic surprises. [See "Olmert’s Not Finished Yet" at www.themedialine.org ^[1]; Featured Stories]