Tel Aviv  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed in Israel Thursday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders ahead of Sunday's meeting in Egypt of international sponsors of the current Middle East peace negotiations.

She is scheduled to meet the now Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the afternoon and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a US embassy spokesman said.

On Friday morning she is to hold talks with other Israeli officials in Jerusalem, before travelling to the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah where she is to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Rice is also scheduled to fly over to Jordan on Friday night to dine with King Abdullah II, and return to Jerusalem, from where she is to head to the Egyptian Red Sea Resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday afternoon head of a key meeting of the "Quartet" of Middle East peace sponsors the next day.

The Quartet - the US, European Union, United Nations and Russia - sponsor the ongoing peace negotiations with Olmert and Abbas launched one year ago at a summit in Annapolis, Maryland.

One year on, both Palestinian and Israeli officials have said it is unlikely the parties will meet their goal of reaching a peace deal before an end-of-year deadline. (dpa)