The White House acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that Israel and the Palestinians were unlikely to reach a peace agreement by the end of the year. At a U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland last year, the White House set the goal of a peace deal before President George W. Bush leaves office January 20. “We realize that with the political changes that have happened in Israel over the past couple of months and … since early summer, … that the prospect of being able to get one done became more unlikely, " spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters, referring to a peace deal. But “it's important that we maintain momentum for the negotiations. It's our experience that over the past year, we have laid some very good groundwork,” Perino said. “But no, we do not think that it's likely that it would happen before the end of the year.” Earlier on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a four-day trip to the Middle East, said Israel and the Palestinians probably would be unable to complete an agreement. She said Israel's decision to hold February elections would make it “very difficult” to secure a peace deal by the end of the year. Palestinian and Israeli leaders have said repeatedly in recent weeks that a breakthrough was out of reach this year.
