US State Department issued a statement of Friday revealing that the U.S Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will travel to the Middle East this Sunday for talks with senior Palestinian and Israeli officials on a number of issues, including the efforts to achieve peace.
The Department did not reveal any detailed information of the agenda of Rice or how long she intends to remain in the Middle East.
It also said that Rice will discuss with the Palestinian and Israeli officials the ongoing efforts which aim at creating a positive atmosphere for achieving a lasting peace in the region.
Israeli sources states that Rice could present a proposal which is based on the recent Israeli “visions” of the solution; this includes rejecting the Right of Return, excluding Jerusalem and the Palestinian Plaines areas from peace talks, and takes into consideration Israeli security arrangements presented by Israel to the U.S.
Both Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, were expecting to achieve a peace deal by the end of this year, but they recently scaled back the expectations as the peace process is not actually advancing to any lasting deal.
