Rice on week-long tour of Middle East

Israel will be the first stop for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she sets out on Friday on a week-long tour of the Middle East and Europe.

Rice also will visit the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Germany and Britain, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said today.

The trip is part of a long-promised effort to promote an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

McCormack said Rice also will travel on a subsequent trip to Paris for a Lebanon donors’ conference on February 24-25.