Rice: Mideast peace by year-end no longer possible

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday all but conceded that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by a year-end deadline is no longer possible.

But she also said upon arriving here that it is important to maintain momentum and support for the negotiations so that new governments in both Israel and the United States have "a firm foundation" to continue to the talks next year.

En route to the Middle East for her eighth trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories since the parties set the deadline for reaching an agreement at last November's summit at Annapolis, Md., Rice said political uncertainty in Israel is the main complication to the …