U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Paris next week to attend a donors' conference for Afghanistan before traveling to Israel and the West Bank to promote the peace process, the State Department said Friday. Asked why Rice was visiting the Middle East, spokesman Sean McCormack said, “It's really to take stock of where they are, to continue pushing the process forward.” “I know there is a lot of political turmoil in Israel, " McCormack told reporters, referring to the troubles of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is at the center of a corruption scandal that could force him to leave office.
