WASHINGTON, July 17: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been charged by the White House to lead a new Arab-Israeli peacemaking initiative but the prospects for a breakthrough seem dimmer than ever.

With the Palestinian territories split between Islamist Hamas in Gaza and US-backed Fatah in the West Bank, President George W. Bush's speech on Monday to revive his vision of a Palestinian state could hardly have come at a tougher time.

“I understand that the (US) president is under pressure to engage but the timing on getting things done right now is pretty grim, especially from the Israeli and the Palestinian side,” said Jon Alterman of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

Coupled with that is fatigue in the Arab world after previous US promises fell flat and a perceived lack of commitment while the White House is consumed by the Iraq war.

“The question that people in the region are going to ask is, is the administration really serious this time?” said former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

“The president has a very sceptical audience which is going to wonder whether there is really anything new,” he added.

With less than 18 months left in his administration and under increasing pressure over the failing war in Iraq, one of the most powerful motivators for both Bush and Rice to push on the Arab-Israeli front is their legacy.

Bush called for a Middle East peace conference in the autumn to be chaired by Rice but he gave no details where such a meeting might be held or who had agreed to attend and US officials said they were still reaching out to Arab nations.—Reuters