Rice plans late visit to Mid-East

The visit will come a year after the US hosted peace talks in Maryland

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will head to the Middle East next week in a bid to advance peace talks before the Bush administration leaves office.

A state department spokesman said Ms Rice would visit Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories during her four-day tour.

President George W Bush had hoped Israel and the Palestinians would reach a peace deal by the end of the year.

But both sides have said that will not be possible.

Ms Rice will start the trip on 5 November, a day after the US election that decides the successor to Mr Bush, who steps down in January.

State department spokesman Robert Wood said she would discuss efforts to achieve "lasting peace in the region" with the aim of a two-state solution.

During her tour, Ms Rice will meet the Middle East Quartet - the EU, US, UN and Russia - at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on 9 November.

On the same day rival Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah are due to begin reconciliation talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

There have been bitter political divisions between Gaza and the West Bank since Hamas drove Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces from Gaza in June 2007.

Aid agencies last month warned the Middle East Quartet was "losing its grip" on the peace process and must radically revise its approach.

Next week's meetings come a year after the US hosted talks in Annapolis, Maryland, between Israel and the Palestinians in an effort to revive the peace process.

The two sides remain deeply divided on the conflict's core issues, including the future status of Jerusalem, the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and Israeli settlement activity on occupied land.