WASHINGTON,: The White House said on Monday it was continuing to press Israel and the Pales-tinians to reach a peace deal even though Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he did not think the two sides could agree on the crucial issue of Jerusalem this year.

“I think we’ve always said that we wouldn’t be able to get a final peace deal in terms of everything being resolved, but we would have this way forward that would outline all the steps that they would have to take to move forward,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.

“It’s now end of July, so we are continuing to push,” she said, adding that she believed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due back in the region “pretty soon.”—AFP