Though the clock is ticking on the Bush administration and Israel is in political turmoil, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged to push for a peace deal Tuesday.
Rice vowed to leave "no stone unturned" in the quest for peace, in remarks she made to a Palestinian business development forum, which is seeking to bring private sector funds into the Palestinian territories.
At the same time, the roiling financial crisis intruded on the secretary's schedule, as Rice had to cancel a trip to the Middle East planned for the end of the week, yet the latest obstacle to making progress on the peace process by the end of the year.
Rice had been scheduled to fly to the United Arab Emirates to attend the Forum for the Future on Middle East reform.
"This is, quite clearly, an important period of time in the global economy. And she decided it was the right thing for her to stay back in Washington, should she be needed, and to pitch in, help out, with any of the international aspects of this," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said, in response to a question on why she is not making the trip.
Yet Rice told the investment forum that, "I still believe that we must make every effort in the time that we have to lay this foundation for peace. And that still means that we must do everything that we can with the negotiating partners to get to the Annapolis solution. And that would be to find an agreement between these parties by the end of the year.
"It is very difficult. There is a hard road ahead. But if we do not try, we most certainly will not succeed," she said.
Sources in Israel said, however, that Rice is expected to make another trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the near future, probably before the November 4 US elections.
These sources said that Rice, since she had planned to be in the region anyway, had originally planned to come to Israel on Thursday.
But she was talked out of it both because of logistical considerations - it is
Succot and would be difficult to reserve the block of hotel rooms she would need in Jerusalem - and because it was still unclear what the future Israeli coalition will look like.
However, the sources said that once the rough contours of the future government became clear, she is expected to come here, hoping that, even if there is no movement toward a full shelf agreement, there will at least be a degree of progress that the next US administration could build on.
One of the ideas currently under discussion is for the Israeli and PA negotiators to brief a planned Quartet meeting in November on the status of the negotiations, laying out what has and has not been agreed upon.
This briefing would be done together, with the sides agreeing in advance on what they would present to the Quartet - made up of the US, EU, Russia and the UN.
Although Egypt has been mentioned as a possible venue for such a Quartet meeting, nothing has yet been finalized. But if Rice does indeed come back to the region in the next few weeks, this is something expected to be high up on her agenda.
Rice, during her address to the investment forum, reiterated her call for Palestinians to "dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism and to promote an atmosphere of tolerance," as well as for Israelis to "halt settlement activity, which can be seen as prejudging the outcome of negotiations and undermining its negotiating partner."
She also called for barriers to Palestinian business activity to be removed.
Rice stressed the progress that had been made on the Palestinian track in recent years, including financial transparency.
"I can tell you that when I go to international conferences now, the question on everyone's lips is how can we help the Palestinian Authority to do what it is going to do," she said. "No one questions anymore its will, its honesty, and its capability to do so. That too is a major change from just a few years ago."
She said "the occupation must end" and that the current negotiating process held out hope for the future.
"Now there is a robust Palestinian-Israeli negotiating track that I am certain will give birth to the Palestinian state," she said, but said the parties must "redouble their efforts."
She also pledged further US commitment.
"Until that moment when I leave office, I will leave no stone unturned to see if we can finally resolve this conflict between peoples," she said. "It will mean that the region can finally overcome the many, many differences and the many, many conflicts that it has, to live as a region that should be building on the potential of its people, not going down to their worst fears.
"And it will mean that the international community could finally put behind it this seminal conflict and turn to a world that is certainly more hopeful, more peaceful, more democratic, and more secure."
