Rice: 60 years of US intervention in Middle East has been a failure

US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice made a forceful case for democracy in the Muslim world last night in a major policy speech in Egypt.

The US pursuit of stability in the Middle East at the expense of democracy had "achieved neither", she admitted, telling Egypt's conservative government leaders "the fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty".

Ms Rice's remarks were to some 700 invited government officials, academics and other guests at the American University in Cairo.

The setting is notable, both because Egypt plans multi-party elections in the autumn and because the Bush administration has made no secret of its dissatisfaction with political progress and the treatment of opposition figures by the government of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"For 60 years, my country, the US, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region, here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither," Ms Rice said. "Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people."

Her speech sets the backdrop today for the first meeting between Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, since the Middle East ceasefire was announced in February, as tension between the two sides continues to mount.

Hours after an ambush by Palestinian militants killed one Israeli and slightly wounded another as they travelled on a road near the Hermesh settlement in the northern West Bank, the Israeli army announced that it had foiled a woman suicide bomber trying to cross from Gaza into Israel.

In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli troops shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian civilian and wounded another youth, Palestinian medics said.

The summit, the first time official Israeli-Palestinian talks will be held in Jerusalem, comes after a visit by Ms Rice, to promote Israeli-Palestinian co-ordination over Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.

Each side is anxious to avoid being blamed by Washington, in Israel's case for undermining the moderate Mr Abbas and in the Palestinian case for putting obstacles in the way of the planned Gaza pull-out.