Rice Promises Action on Middle East Peace

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, today vowed the US would be "very active" in the Middle East peace process as she made a joint appearance with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

On the Palestinian leg of her first foreign trip since taking office two weeks ago, Ms Rice named William Ward, a retired US general, as a security coordinator to oversee reform of the Palestinian security forces and monitor peace efforts on the ground.

"This would not supplant efforts and activities of the parties themselves," she said at the Palestinian administrative headquarters in Ramallah. "I do believe it's most important that the Israelis and Palestinians have security coordination that is bilateral, that is strong and robust at dealing with problems."

Ms Rice also promised $40 million (£21m) over the next 90 days to spur job creation and economic reconstruction, part of the $350 million (£187m) package already promised by the US president, George Bush, to the Palestinian territories.

The success or failure of the Middle East peace process is likely to be determined by the extent of US participation. In Mr Bush's first term, the administration concentrated on Afghanistan and Iraq but Ms Rice's visit is seen as an indication of US interest in re-starting the process.

In a repeat of comments made yesterday at the Israeli foreign ministry, Ms Rice said that both she and Mr Bush were personally committed to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"There should be no doubt about the commitment of the United States to this process at this time, no doubt about the commitment of the president," she said.

Ms Rice's disclosure stopped short of appointing a senior Middle East envoy that some, especially among the Palestinians, believe is necessary to ensure the parties fully adhere to confidence-building measures in the "road map" peace plan to a Palestinian state.

She will not attend tomorrow's summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh between Mr Abbas and the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, that renews cooperation on the plan. But yesterday she told Israel it had to make "hard decisions" if it was to create the correct environment for peace and a Palestinian state.

Ms Rice said she told the Israelis that they must refrain from taking unilateral actions that would prejudge the outcome of future peace negotiations, singling out Jerusalem, claimed by both sides as a capital, and recent Israeli efforts to seize Jerusalem land owned by West Bank Palestinians.