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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. (AP) Last update - 15:10 28/03/2008 Rice to discuss final status talks during Mideast visit next week By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Ehud Olmert, Road Map  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to hold two trilateral meetings during her visit to the region next week. One American-Israeli-Palestinian conclave will deal with the final-status negotiations, while the other will address the situation on the ground in the West Bank and what both sides are doing, or not doing, to fulfill their obligations under the road map peace plan. Rice will arrive Saturday and stay for three days. She will hold meetings in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman - the latter with King Abdullah of Jordan. The visit is intended to signal growing American involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and to prod both sides to make significant progress before U.S. President George Bush visits the region in May. Rice is interested in raising the profile of the final-status talks and demonstrating real progress on the core issues. To this end, she plans one three-way meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia, who head the respective negotiating teams. A joint declaration about progress in the negotiations might be issued at the end of it. Advertisement The Livni-Qureia talks are being conducted very intensively: The two met twice this week and three times last week. They are also being conducted in great secrecy, and even Rice has not been fully briefed on the details. Virtually nothing has been leaked from these talks except the message that they are "progressing well." The talks have dealt with the issues of borders, refugees, settlements and security. It is not clear whether they have also dealt with Jerusalem: Both parties prefer ambiguity on this issue, especially in light of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's promise to Shas that Jerusalem will be discussed only at the end. Rice also plans to focus on practical steps to improve the situation in the West Bank, as called for in the road map. To this end, she plans separate meetings with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, followed by a joint meeting with both of them. A week ago, a trilateral monitoring commission, headed by American General William Fraser, held its first meeting to review both sides' implementation of their road map obligations. At that meeting, Fraser told the Palestinians they were not doing enough to fight terror and criticized Israel for its failure to remove West Bank roadblocks and dismantle illegal settlement outposts. Rice has made several statements recently about her unhappiness with both sides' foot-dragging on their road map commitments. However, she has directed most of her criticism at Israel, for not doing enough to improve the daily lives of West Bank Palestinians. Barak plans to present Rice with the list of Israeli steps that he decided on this week, which he previously discussed with Fayyad at their meeting on Wednesday. Rice is also interested in a proposed bill to compensate any settler who leaves the West Bank voluntarily, even before a final-status agreement is signed. She first heard about the idea at a meeting in Jerusalem with Minister Without Portfolio Ami Ayalon a few months ago. At the time, Ayalon told Rice it was critical for the U.S. to push this matter forward, since otherwise, it would go nowhere. American officials have also discussed this issue with MKs Avshalom Vilan(Meretz) and Colette Avital (Labor), who sponsored the legislation. There is growing interest in the idea in Washington, on the assumption that such a law would show the Palestinians that Israel is serious about quitting the West Bank. Related articles: PM to tell Rice he wants to renew talks with PA soon http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/968416.html Drive slowly Vice Premier: W. Bank outposts harm Israel's relations with U.S. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terror online Israel posts clips on YouTube of J'lem yeshiva terror attack. Remembering Gaza Knesset approves bill to commemorate the Jewish settlements of Gush Katif.   1.   Read:Israel being pressed to accept pal "return" 01:25  |  Absolute Sweden 28/03/08   2.   Rice is WORRIED 01:39  |  Jeff 28/03/08   3.   American-Israeli relations. 09:52  |  Jean Van Daem 28/03/08   4.   Rice keeps hitting a wall.. I guess see to stupid to see it but 10:03  |  aaa 28/03/08   5.   Population Transfer 10:57  |  Equality 28/03/08   6.   That idiot Rice...... 11:00  |  Clickfool 28/03/08   7.   More lies from Barak 11:18  |  Boycott 28/03/08   8.   New outpost quickly! 11:31  |  Anton 28/03/08   9.   Tell Rice and Bush 12:54  |  American Christian 28/03/08   10.   The last deal she struck involved Israel allowing EU monitoring 13:24  |  r 28/03/08   11.   Make peace in the mideast, then say gnight George 13:24  |  Natallie Durson 28/03/08   12.   There used to be a travel story about someone called Sindbad and 14:16  |  lakshmi 28/03/08   13.   Rice should stay in the US 14:52  |  I 28/03/08   14.   Rice plays Russian Roullette with Israel 16:10  |  Proud Israeli 28/03/08   15.   more money 17:25  |  curious george 28/03/08   16.   Transfer of Population 17:38  |  Nechama 28/03/08   17.   `KOWTOWING` to TERRORISTS ... 17:57  |  Dagma 28/03/08   18.   Dagma #17 - Condaleezza RICE and her Absurdities 19:13  |  PLAYBOY 28/03/08   19.   talks 07:09  |  colinc 29/03/08   20.   The dependency of the U.S.A. on Arab oil. 07:51  |  Jean Van Daem 29/03/08   21.   many countries need oil. these fear 16:03  |  bozhidar bob balkas 29/03/08   22.   #14 - Has It Backwards 01:03  |  DoubleClick 30/03/08

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