By Sue Pleming
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a 24-hour visit to Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday carrying a Saudi pledge of support for a Middle East peace conference proposed by Washington.
In talks in the region, Rice will try to inject new momentum into peacemaking between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's West Bank government following the violent takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamists in June.
A senior U.S. State Department official said Washington wanted to see whether a political horizon "can be given some extra definition in the coming weeks", a reference to showing Palestinians their hopes for statehood remain alive.
Diplomats and Israeli officials said the United States wants Israel to expand the scope of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's discussions with Abbas by pushing forward on core issues like borders.
But it was unclear how far Olmert, weakened by what many Israelis see as an unsuccessful war last year against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, was prepared to go to help bolster Abbas, whom Israeli officials have long described as ineffectual.
Rice flew to Israel from Saudi Arabia, where Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Riyadh welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush's initiative to hold a Middle East peace conference later this year. No date or venue has been set.
"There is an international movement (for peace) ... Israel should respond to these pressures," Prince Saud said, without promising that Saudi Arabia would attend the conference.
Olmert's office said he hoped many Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, would attend the international gathering.
"This meeting can grant an umbrella for the bilateral talks between Israel and the Palestinians," a statement from his office said.
Prince Saud, in another nod to the United States, announced at a news conference with Rice and U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates that Saudi Arabia was exploring opening an embassy in Baghdad and would send a delegation there to pursue the matter.
"This is something that we have encouraged ... It is an important step," Rice said.
DIALOGUE
With Washington keen to show progress in the Middle East despite crisis in Iraq, Rice may press Olmert to respond to Saudi support for an international conference by easing restrictions on Palestinians and taking more steps to revive statehood talks.
Israeli officials said Olmert was prepared to discuss borders and other core issues in "general terms" that could lead to an "agreement of principles" for establishing a Palestinian state.
But Olmert has not agreed to full-fledged negotiations over the three main final status issues -- borders, the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees -- as proposed by Abbas.
Israeli officials said any commitment now could raise expectations and lead to further violence if talks broke down.
Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said final-status issues should be negotiated as a package.
Rice, on her first visit to Israel and the West Bank since Hamas routed Abbas's secular Fatah faction in Gaza, was to see the Palestinian leader in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.
Olmert and Abbas are expected to meet next week, most likely in Jericho, also in the West Bank.
During Rice's visit to Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, Prince Saud expressed shock at recent remarks by former U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, that accused Riyadh of undermining efforts to stabilise Iraq.
"I was astounded by what he said," the foreign minister said, in reference to the comments from Khalilzad who is now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"The traffic of terrorists is, I can assure you, of more concern to us from Iraq, and this is one of the worries our government has," he added.
Saudi Arabia is worried that Saudi al Qaeda militants fighting the U.S.-allied Iraqi government and Iraqi Shi'ites will return to take up the fight against the monarchy.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond and Diala Saadeh)
