U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice summoned top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators Monday in an attempt to prod forward peace talks before ending her latest Mideast mission. Rice met Monday morning with the chief negotiators, former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Talks with the sides a day earlier produced Israeli promises to ease restrictions in the West Bank. Later Monday, Rice was traveling to Amman to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On Sunday, the two met in the Jordanian capital, where Rice also saw Jordan's King Abdullah II. The king warned that failure to achieve progress toward peace would «threaten the region's future» and blamed Israel for unilateral actions, according to a statement from his palace quoted by the Associated Press.
