VP Cheney to visit Middle East next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney will visit the Middle East next week and meet with leaders of Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian West Bank and Turkey, his office said on Monday.

Cheney's trip to Israel and the West Bank follows last week's visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who urged leaders to move forward with peace talks that were dealt a blow by violence in Gaza and Israel.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who visited Israel this year for the first time as president, has said he is optimistic a peace deal can be reached before he leaves office in January 2009.

"President Bush has asked the vice president to travel to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Turkey for discussions with these key partners on issues of mutual interest," Cheney's office said in a statement.

Cheney, whose trip will begin on Sunday, also will meet with Saudi King Abdullah at a time when oil prices are hitting record highs. When Bush visited Saudi Arabia in January he urged OPEC to increase production but the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided not to boost output.

Regional tensions likely would be discussed in Turkey, which recently staged a military offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Cheney's office did not provide any details of what issues would be discussed during his trip or what dates he would stop in each country.