Condoleezza Rice vows maximum effort on Mideast Peace Process

Washington, October 15, SPA -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice on Tuesday vowed to exert maximum effort in her quest for a
Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement by January 20, when President
George W. Bush leaves office.

While it is close to “the end of this administration, I still
believe that we must make every effort in the time that we have to
lay this foundation for peace,” Rice told a Washington conference on
Palestinian business and investment.

“That still means that we must do everything that we can with the
negotiating partners to get the negotiating partners to get to the
Annapolis solution, " Rice said, referring to the U.S.-hosted peace
conference last year that launched the first serious
Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in seven years.

“That would mean to find an agreement by these parties by the end of
the year, " Rice told the conference sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce. “There is a hard road ahead, but if we do not try, we will
certainly not succeed.”

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