Rice says Mid-East deal unlikely

Ms Rice will report to the Middle East diplomatic Quartet on Sunday

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has appeared to concede that a Middle East peace deal will not be reached by the end of the year.

Ms Rice, on her 22nd visit to the region, said however that there was a "firm foundation" for an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.

She will meet leaders from both sides before moving on to Jordan and Egypt.

US President George W Bush said a year ago that he wanted a peace deal signed before he left office in January 2009.

I think that whatever happens by the end of the year, you've got a firm foundation for quickly moving forward to a conclusion Condoleezza Rice

"Obviously Israel is in the middle of elections and that is a constraint on the ability of any government to conclude what is the core conflict for Israel and the Palestinians," Ms Rice said upon her arrival in Tel Aviv.

"I think that whatever happens by the end of the year, you've got a firm foundation for quickly moving forward to a conclusion," she said.

Ms Rice will wrap up her four-day visit to the region in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where she will attend a meeting of the Middle East Quartet - the mediation group made up of the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

The talks that began in Annapolis, in November 2007, have produced few tangible results and are expected to be placed on hold for at least several months during the US transition from Bush to Obama administrations.

In addition, Israel will hold elections on 10 February and there are questions about the tenure of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose opponents claim his term expires in January.

Shaky truce

Ms Rice's visit coincides with an outbreak of violence that has left seven Palestinian militants dead in the past two days.

But Israel said on Thursday that it favours an extension of the five-month-old truce in Gaza.

"We hope the truce can be applied again, we believe in it and it looks like things are calming down," deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told army radio.

A seventh Palestinian militant was killed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday night and four Israeli soldiers have been wounded in Israeli incursions.

Both Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, accused each other of violating the truce, but each have said they hoped there would be no further escalation.