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Condoleezza Rice has called for negotiations to resume
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is back in the Middle East for talks with both the Israeli and Palestinian leadership.
What little dialogue there has been was derailed by Hamas' rocket attacks on Israeli towns and Israel's military response, which has killed more than 120 people.
But President Bush still says he believes a peace deal can be reached by the end of the year.
Is this a realistic scenario or just wishful thinking ?
The World Today spoke to the former US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer :
Against this background, can Secretary Rice do anything to open the window of opportunity from the peace talks in Annapolis three months ago?
Daniel Levy is Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation.
Speaking in Ramallah, Dr Rice again urged Palestinian leaders to resume talks with Israel.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, suspended negotiations with Israel at the weekend.
Can he be encouraged to ignore Palestinian outrage over Israeli military action in Gaza? What, if any, room for manoeuvre does he have?
Newshour spoke to political analyst Dr George Giacaman, director of the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy.
Listen Listen to Dr George Giacaman
First broadcast 4th March
