Jerusalem, June 21: US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice may visit here next week for a new round of talks on the Middle East peace "roadmap," an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said today. Yonathan Peled told his ministry had been informed by US officials of "Condoleezza Rice's intention to visit the region next week, but there was no mention of a specific date."
Israeli public radio reported earlier that rice was slated to visit Israel next week to discuss the US-backed peace roadmap with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
As the second of two heavy hitters named by President George W. Bush to push the roadmap, she would follow Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was here yesterday. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and, separately, with Palestinian premier Mahmud Abbas to kickstart the roadmap's implementation after two weeks of spiraling violence.
The blueprint proposes the creation by 2005 of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with alongside a secure Israel, and its first phase calls for an end to the nearly 33 months of deadly violence between the two sides.
Bush convened a summit in Jordan last month with Abbas and Sharon to officially launch its implementation.

Bureau Report