US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was due to arrive Sunday in Tel Aviv for a new round of talks to try to push the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward, with a busy schedule of bilateral and trilateral meetings.

Rice was first to meet Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert and other Israeli government officials before then travelling to Ramallah to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

According to State Department officials, Rice is additionally planning two sets of trilateral talks.

In one, she will be getting together with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and acting Palestinian Premier Salam Fayad, the two key officials concerned in the issue of easing living conditions for the some 2.4 million palestinians in the West Bank.

The US and European Union have been pushing Israel to reduce the now more than 600 roadblocks and checkpoints in order to permit greater flow of people and goods and to get the economy moving forward again.

In the other trilateral meeting, Rice is to hunker down with the two chief negotiators, Ahmed Qureia for the Palestinians and Israeli Foreign Minister Zipi Liwni.

It is Rice's sixth visit to the region since last November, after Israel and the Palestinians resumed their peace efforts.

Israel and the Palestinians have the aim of nailing down a framework agreement for a peace deal before the administration of President George W Bush ends next January.

Beforehand, however, the two sides must still resolve their differences regarding borders, refugees and the status of Jerusalem. (dpa)