US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice extended her Mideast tour on Monday in a bid to push forward progress on Rafah crossing, on which Israel and the Palestinians are close to reaching an agreement.

Rice will fly to the Jordanian capital Amman to pay tribute to the victims of last week's triple suicide bomb attacks in three luxury hotels in Amman, and then return to Israel on Monday night.

She was originally scheduled to head to Asia instead of returning to Israel.

Rice's visit is part of her on-going Middle East tour which has already taken her to Iraq, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

The trip, her fourth this year, is widely seen as a new US bid to inject fresh energy in the long-stalled Mideast peace process.

Seeking Israeli support for allowing free movement of Palestinian people and goods in and out of Gaza has been a priority on Rice's agenda, which Washington believes is crucial to revive the violence-battered economy in the strip.

Rice said earlier Monday that Israel and the Palestinians were very close to reaching an agreement on the operation of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Rice made the statement at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah after a meeting held between the two.

"A lot of these are highly technical issues, a number are complicated issues," said Rice.

"I believe that with will and some creativity, an agreement... as a way forward should be in sight," she said.

"It is very important for ordinary Palestinians to enjoy freedom of movement established between Gaza and the West Bank," she added.

The Rafah crossing is the only exit for Palestinians living in Gaza to travel abroad. The crossing has been shut down since Israel withdrew from Gaza in September.

Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to an Egypt-proposed plan to reopen Rafah crossing under the supervision of the European Union.

However, Israel and the Palestinians are at odds over the role of the EU inspectors and whether to install monitors at the crossing.

Rice arrived in Ramallah on Monday after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem earlier in the day.

Rice urged Sharon to push forward the negotiations with the Palestinians on the Rafah issue and re-asserted her intention to continue working with Israel and the Palestinians toward a two- state solution to the Mideast conflict.

Source: Xinhua