Condoleezza Rice
Photo: AP
Rice to postpone next week's Mideast trip
US official says stops in Jerusalem, Ramallah expected to be added to a trip secretary of state now plans in early August
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has postponed a trip to the Middle East next week but will still visit Ghana and Portugal, a US official said on Thursday.
The US official, who asked not to be identified because the decision had not been announced, said the stops in Jerusalem and Ramallah were expected to be added to a Mideast trip Rice now plans in early August.
He said next week's trip will be to Accra, Ghana, where Rice is to discuss trade and economic issues with African officials, and to Lisbon, where she will meet Portuguese officials and could attend a meeting of the "Quartet" of Middle East peace mediators, if one is scheduled.
Earlier, US President George W. Bush said he was sending Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Middle East in early August as he unveiled an interim US report showing mixed progress on security and political goals in Iraq.
Rice's trip to Jerusalem and Ramallah will be her first to Israel and the Palestinian territories since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June.
The Hamas victory has transformed the Palestinian political and security landscape and effectively divided the Palestinians between the West Bank, which is governed by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, and Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas.
Rice last visited Israel and the West Bank in March, when she announced that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas planned to meet every two weeks - a schedule the two politically weakened leaders were unable to meet.
