U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney will visit the Middle East countries for talks with leaders this month, the White House said Monday in a statement.
Cheney is due to leave on March 16 and will make stops in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Turkey "for discussions with these key partners on issues of mutual interest," the statement said.
Cheney's Mideast journey follows a trip to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during which she tried to promote the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians despite recent Israeli military strikes into the Gaza Strip.
Violence increased sharply on Feb. 27 after Israel killed five Hamas militants in an air raid and Gaza militants retaliated with a barrage of rocket and mortar fire into Israel. But relatively calm returned recently amid reports about a truce reached between Israel and the Islamic Hamas movement.
Source:Xinhua
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