Rice in Middle East

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories yesterday by pledging renewed US commitment to Middle East peacemaking, which enters a new chapter at a summit this week.

"I most especially want to bring the personal commitment of President Bush and my own personal commitment to this process because this is a time of opportunity and it is a time that we must seize," Ms Rice told reporters at Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Arriving in Israel two days before Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet in Egypt, Ms Rice said Israel must take "hard decisions" for peace and the Palestinians should wage "an effective fight against terrorism".

Criticised for too little involvement in Middle East peace efforts in his first term, President George W. Bush sent Ms Rice to the region to back up his pledge to press harder for an end to the conflict.

But with both sides about to embark on a new dialogue, Ms Rice's mission seemed less of an arm-twisting exercise and more of an affirmation of change after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death in November.

Ms Rice (pictured on right) praised a new Palestinian leadership that has "expressed its desire for a peaceful future with Israel" and Mr Sharon's Gaza pull-out plan.

She said it now appeared possible "to get back onto the road map", a US-based peace plan stalled by violence.

At a meeting with Mr Sharon, Ms Rice told reporters she would seek to advance peace, "while working with you (Israel) to overcome the scourge of terrorism". But she also pressed Israel to make good on its pledges to make goodwill gestures to Palestinians.

"This is a hopeful time, but this also is a time of great responsibility for all of us to make certain that we act on the words that we speak," she said, standing next to Mr Sharon.

Mr Sharon said he hoped Ms Rice would help "the peace process we so want to advance in the region".

Ms Rice will not attend the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, signalling she preferred to see Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas make progress as free of foreign mediation as possible.

"I hope we would all get into a mindset that says if the parties are able to continue to move on their own, that's the very best outcome," Ms Rice, on an eight-day tour of Europe and the Middle East, said earlier in Ankara.

Mr Abbas's election last month to succeed Mr Arafat, viewed by the United States and Israel as an obstacle to peace, has stirred international optimism, and Ms Rice pledged to discuss ways for the sides to coordinate security and defuse crises.

One crisis was averted yesterday when negotiators hammering out terms for the summit named a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee to review a roster of prisoners Israel plans to release as a confidence-building measure.

Israel has disappointed the Palestinian leadership by refusing to include any jailed for deadly attacks among the 900 prisoners it intends to free. The issue had threatened to cast a shadow over the summit.

Mr Abbas is under enormous domestic pressure to secure freedom for 8,000 prisoners, among the most emotive issues for ordinary Palestinians, many of whom have relatives in Israeli jails.

Political analysts differ over how much the United States should intensify a brokering role largely dormant under Mr Bush, although he championed the road map, charting steps towards a Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

Palestinians are wary of US involvement because of what they see as Mr Bush's pro-Israeli stance in his first term when he backed Mr Sharon's intention - as part of any future peace accord - to keep some lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Still, Mr Bush has sought to bolster Mr Abbas and on Wednesday announced $350 million in aid for the Palestinians. While it is a fraction of the $3 billion US assistance Israel receives each year, the package was a big aid boost.

Even before Mr Arafat died in November, Mr Sharon's plan was to pull settlers out of the Gaza Strip and a chunk of the West Bank by the end of this year.