Rice: Middle East peace doable this year

RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 5 (UPI) -- Peace in the Middle East in 2008 is doable, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in advance of the U.S. president's trip to the region next week.

"This is very painstaking work, it is labor-intensive work, but it is necessary work, because President (George) Bush believes very strongly that the time has come for the establishment of a Palestinian state," Rice said during a news conference Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. "We continue to believe that 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 met Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Sunday with Abbas.

Abbas said during his discussions with Rice he reiterated "the need for Israel to abide by and the need to freeze all settlement activities including natural growth activities and to remove all illegal settlement posts."

Abbas called Hamas to "withdraw from its coup" and back negotiating efforts.

"(We) hope that we will achieve what we aspire to as soon as possible during this year," the Palestinian leader said.