Gaza border deal on cards: Rice
Foreign Desk Report

RAMALLAH (West Bank)—U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday there was an “agreement in sight” for freedom of movement for Palestinians to and from Gaza following Israel’s pullout from the territory in September.
Progress toward a long-awaited deal, which would resolve a major source of tension since the withdrawal, was announced after Rice held separate talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Rice pressed the Palestinians to “fight terror” and urged Israel to freeze West Bank settlement expansion, obligations under a U.S.-sponsored peace “road map” that has been stalled by violence and non-compliance.
U.S. officials have voiced frustration at both sides’ failure to capitalize on what Washington has seen as an opening for renewed peacemaking following Israel’s first removal of settlements from land Palestinians want for a state. Sporadic fighting has put a damper on diplomacy. In the latest flare-up, Israeli troops shot dead a Hamas commander in the occupied West Bank .