Rice presses Israel on roadblocks, settlements

By Arshad Mohammed and Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday pressed Israel to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians and called Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank "particularly problematic".

But she said Washington believed an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal was still possible before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January, praising the "seriousness and depth" of negotiations.

"We continue to believe it is an achievable goal to have an agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis by the end of the year and by the end of President Bush's term," Rice said after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Negotiations on issues core to the Middle East conflict were launched at a U.S.-hosted international conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November. Abbas, at a news conference with Rice, voiced his commitment to peace efforts.

But Israeli-Palestinian talks have been clouded by violence, primarily along the border of the Gaza Strip, which is now controlled by Abbas's Islamist Hamas opponents, and by Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which Palestinians fear will deny them a viable state.

At the news conference, Rice said the United States regarded settlements as "particularly problematic to the atmosphere of trust that is needed".

A 2003 peace "road map" requires Israel halt construction in the settlements. Israel says it will keep major settlement blocs under any peace deal -- a plan tacitly endorsed by Bush in 2004 -- and recently approved new housing projects in the enclaves.

"I can assure you that Israel has no hidden agenda," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told reporters after later talks with Rice, in response to a question about the settlements.