JERUSALEM - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a Middle East visit on Sunday by playing down the chances of major progress on Israeli-Palestinian peace during her four days of talks with officials from both sides.
Rice travelled to the region to prepare for an international meeting the United States plans to host this year that it hopes will lead to formal peace negotiations and, eventually, the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israeli and Palestinian teams are holding meetings to hammer out a joint document addressing "core issues" for the gathering, expected to be held late next month in Annapolis, Maryland.
"I don't expect ... that there will be any particular outcome in the sense of breakthroughs on the document," Rice told reporters as she flew to Tel Aviv. "This is really a work in progress."
Rice met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak and planned to have dinner with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad to try to gauge how much progress they have made on the document.
Statements from both sides suggested major gaps remained. Olmert told Rice that it was his "clear hope" a joint statement would be agreed in time for the conference but added "that's not a condition for the meeting taking place," Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.
The negotiations have stirred opposition from Olmert's right-wing coalition partners. One cabinet minister told Rice that major peace moves at the conference could threaten Olmert's government.
Olmert has sought to address in general terms the most divisive aspects of the Middle East conflict -- borders of a Palestinian state, the future of the holy city of Jerusalem, and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees.
IMPACT ON ISRAELI GOVERNMENT?
