By Kim Israel strikes 'kill two in Gaza' ...
Rice on last leg of Mid-East tour ... Ghattas
BBC News, Jerusalem
It is crunch time for the Bush administration as it continues to hold out hope for a peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
But even US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice let out a sign of her frustration at the lack of progress on the ground, particularly on the part of the Israelis.
On her way to Jerusalem for meetings with officials there and then with Palestinian officials in Ramallah, Ms Rice discussed some of the items on her agenda with the reporters travelling with her on the plane.
These include the concrete and sensitive issues of continued Israeli settlement activity and Israeli roadblocks in the West Bank.
During her last visit in March, Israel promised to remove 61 roadblocks. But the UN says only 44 have been dismantled, and most of them had no or little significance.
When asked whether she would ask the Israelis to dismantle more roadblocks, she replied with a somewhat exasperated laugh: "The first thing we're going to do is review the ones that were supposedly removed."
The choice of the word "supposedly" was telling of the difficulties faced by the Bush administration as it tries its hand at solving a 60-year-old intractable conflict involving a top US ally.
Ms Rice also said she wanted to talk to the Israelis about the significance of the checkpoints in question, because some have more impact than others on the lives of the Palestinians.
"Not all roadblocks are created equal," said Ms Rice. "We don't want to get into a numbers game where you just remove 'X' number of roadblocks but it's not improving the lives of the Palestinians."
Israel says the checkpoints are essential against security threats coming from Palestinians militants, but they are stifling life in the West Bank.
Raids
America's top diplomat also said she would press the Israelis to refrain from undermining the Palestinian authority and its security forces with raids into the West Bank.
While the US recognises Israel's security concerns, Ms Rice said, "when the Palestinians deploy, and when you're trying to give responsibility to the Palestinians, it's important not to take steps that undermine their authority".
Hundreds of Palestinian troops took up position in the town of Jenin on Saturday as the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tries to assert his control.
Israel says the Palestinian troops often co-opt rather than confront the militants, and wants the Palestinian Authority to do more to curb attacks.
While senior US officials insist that talks behind closed doors are making progress, the lack of tangible improvement on the ground so far is undermining the credibility of peace talks, five months after they were launched during the Annapolis peace conference in November.
Some 400 Palestinians have died since then in sporadic violence, as their living conditions continue to worsen - especially in Gaza, where the blockade is taking its toll.
Settlement activity
Ms Rice will hold talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem and then travel to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet Palestinian officials.
On Friday, she was in London attending a meeting of the international diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East and the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee which co-ordinates international aid to the Palestinians.
The Quartet called on both the Palestinians and the Israelis to refrain from actions that undermine the talks.
In a statement that was seen as stronger as usual in its criticism of Israel, it also urged Israel to freeze all settlement activity and dismantle outposts built since 2001.
But there's no talk about direct pressure on Israel.
"It's not about pressure, it's about working through the problems," Ms Rice said.
She insisted that as the political process moved forwards, both sides would find growing incentives to do more.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who was also in London, expressed dismay at the lack of progress and said Israel was not fulfilling its obligations under the roadmap peace plan, pointing in particular to the issue of the roadblocks and checkpoints.
Truce talks
The secretary of state also said the US supported Egypt's talks with Palestinian factions, Hamas in particular, to try to bring about calm in the region.
Cairo is trying to broker a tacit ceasefire in Gaza that would later extend to the West Bank.
Ms Rice said the US supported all the goals being discussed that would include Palestinian Authority personnel at the crossings and more reliable openings of the crossings.
Ms Rice has visited Israel and the Palestinian territories almost every month in the last two years.
This trip is also meant to nudge the two sides into action and set the stage for President George W Bush's visit to Israel and the Arab world next month.
His first visit to the Middle East in January did not produce a breakthrough.
(BBC)
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