Mideast Quartet

Rice and Steinmeier told reporters after talks in Berlin that representatives from the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union would meet in Washington "probably Feb.1 or 2.

"This is a very critical time for the international community and for the Middle East," Rice said, adding that the United States continued to support a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians "in peace, democracy and freedom."

Germany, in its capacity as the current EU president, has pushed for a revitalized role for the quartet at what it considers to be an auspicious time to bring an end to the bloodshed.

"A solution to that problem is more urgent today than ever," Steinmeier said. "We are both of the opinion that the time is ripe for a meeting of the quartet."

Its last full meeting was in September.

Six-country tour

Rice arrived for her two-day visit in Germany on Wednesday from Kuwait after completing a six-country tour of the Middle East during which she announced she would hold a three-way summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas within a month.

She said in Berlin it would take "a few weeks" to organize the three-way summit.

"I think it will be useful to have the meeting with the quartet in advance of that," Rice said.

Rice said Sunday Washington wanted to build on what she called "the momentum that is currently in Palestinian-Israeli relations."

Steinmeier said he believed the stalled roadmap -- the peace plan drawn up in 2003 by the members of the quartet with the aim of establishing a viable Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel -- remained the best option for progress.

In Berlin, Rice also met Christopher Hill, the top US envoy to six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, who is holding discussions with the North's negotiator in the German capital.

Rice's trip to the Middle East had the dual aims of breathing new life into the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and winning support for the Bush administration's plan to deploy more than 20,000 additional US troops in Iraq.

After talks with Rice in Kuwait City Tuesday, the six members of the pro-US Gulf Cooperation Council along with Egypt and Jordan gave the plan a cautious welcome and issued a call for Iraq's neighbors not to meddle in the strife-torn country.

Skeptical Middle East

Many Arab countries are concerned about Iran's growing power in the region.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah told a joint news conference with Rice: "With respect to US policy towards Iran... the US and the Gulf (States) expressed in (a) joint communiqué that we call to all countries to refrain from interfering in Iraqi internal affairs."

The Gulf states and the US said they wanted to prevent Iraq "becoming a battleground for regional and international powers."

This could also refer to Syria which has been repeatedly accused by Washington of fueling the Iraqi insurgency.

"We expressed our desire to see the president's plan to reinforce the American military presence in Baghdad as a vehicle... to stabilize Baghdad and to prevent Iraq from sliding into this ugly war," the Kuwaiti foreign minister said.

Rice admitted that Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab neighbors were skeptical about the ability of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shiite government to halt the sectarian violence that has pitted Sunni Arabs against Shiites.

"There are concerns about whether the Maliki government is prepared to take an even-handed, non-sectarian path... but everybody wants to give this a chance. That is the position of the people in the region and there is in fact a burden on the Iraqi government to perform," she said in Kuwait.

She will continue on to London, the last stop of her tour, Thursday.