Rice to visit Israel, Palestinian territories next week

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on Sept. 18-20, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a briefing on Wednesday. "The secretary will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah for meeting with officials from Israel and the Palestinian authority in order to continue the discussions on advancing the development of a political horizon and the two-state solution," McCormack said. McCormack said that Rice will try to build upon some of the progress Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas made during their recent discussions. "That is a very positive signal from the two sides that they are ready to move this process forward," McCormack said. The Middle East peace process has been stalled due to the violence between the two sides as well as the internal strives of Palestinian factions