WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Israel and the West Bank next week to encourage both sides to make progress before a U.S. peace conference this year, the State Department said on Wednesday.
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State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice would be in the region from September 18-20, first visiting Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders.

She then planned to travel to Ramallah in the West Bank for meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference.

A date has not been announced for that meeting but it is likely to take place mid-November in the United States.

"She (Rice) wants to build upon some of the progress that the two parties themselves have made in their discussions," said McCormack of Rice's trip.

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met Abbas in Jerusalem and the two sides agreed to set up negotiating teams to find common ground ahead of the conference. "That is a very positive development," said McCormack of the decision to form negotiating teams.

"If we are going to succeed in bringing about a two-state solution it is going to be fundamental that the two states themselves are ready to roll up their sleeves," he added.

During a trip to Jerusalem earlier this year, Rice arranged a three-way meeting between herself and the Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

Asked whether Rice hoped to arrange another such meeting on this trip, McCormack declined comment.

I find the timing of her trip just amazing! Right in the middle of the Days of Awe.... the period between the Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur. The Lord has been opening Himself up to me and revealing things in the past few weeks at alarming rate. Things are bginning to move quickly..... if you have not read the Latest email by Shekel I would suggest you did. It seems to speak of something happening right in the middle of this week. What I find even more interesting is that it lines right up with my reversed Nun thread that I started months ago... and is lining up with the thread that Miki started about the KJV Code. The Lord is truly giving Meat in Due Season! Opening the spiritual eyes of His servants that are "watching" for His return! Lord have mercy on us... but I am afraid the ride is about to get really crazy.



Your friend in Christ,
Val
Messiahiscoming

Rice is in Jerusalem now...........i don't see any SIGNS/DISASTERS.

except,

Hamas said today that Israel has declared war on Gaza Strip............read here-in-below



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070919/pl_nm/...lestinians_dc_7


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel declared the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" on Wednesday and said it would reduce its fuel and power supplies to the Hamas-run territory in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.
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Hamas described the move, coinciding with a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to promote a U.S.-proposed Middle East peace conference, as a declaration of war.

"They aim to starve our people and force them to bow and accept humiliating formulas that could emerge from the so-called November peace conference," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said his security cabinet approved the "enemy entity" classification and there would be "limitations on imports to the Gaza Strip and a reduction in the supply of fuel and electricity."

It said the sanctions would be implemented after Israeli authorities examined the legal and humanitarian ramifications.

"This allows Israel to order a number of administrative sanctions against the Gaza Strip, of course on condition they don't cross the red line in terms of inflicting humanitarian damage," said Public Security Minister Avi Dichter.

Olmert has been under pressure from right-wing members of his government to order a broad military ground operation in the Gaza Strip to try to curb frequent cross-border rocket salvoes.

The security cabinet, however, opted several weeks ago to explore the possibility of cutting power to the area instead, sanctions that Israeli officials acknowledged could be seen as a violation of international law.

By formally defining the Gaza Strip as an enemy entity, Israel could argue that it cannot be bound by international law governing the administration of occupied territory to supply utilities to the population of 1.5 million.

Israel withdrew troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Palestinians contend it is still under Israeli occupation because Israel controls its borders, air space and coastal waters.

Hamas Islamists seized control of the territory in June after routing fighters from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

DEPENDENCE

According to Israeli and Palestinian officials, Gaza's population uses approximately 200 megawatts of electricity, out of which 120 are provided directly from Israeli power lines, 17 are delivered from Egypt and 65 are produced at a plant in Gaza.

The territory and its power station are also dependent on Israeli fuel supplies, some of them funded by the European Union.

Beginning a visit to the region, Rice said "critical issues" would be tackled at the Middle East conference, a meeting that Palestinians hope will move them closer to statehood.

Speaking to reporters on her flight to Israel, she said she hoped her brief trip would build momentum ahead of the gathering and bridge differences on core matters -- borders, Jerusalem, refugees and security.

"Everyone expects it (the conference) to be serious and substantive and everybody expects it to address critical issues. We don't expect anything less," she said.

"The idea that somehow the president of the United States would call an international meeting so that we could all have a photo-op is very far-fetched," said Rice, who will be in the Middle East for little more than 24 hours.

(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming, Dan Williams and Adam Entous in Jerusalem,d Wafa Amr in Ramallah, and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza))