(Corrects first name of analyst in paragraph 4 to Jon)

By Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice begins a new round of talks in the Middle East on Friday amid deep skepticism about whether the United States is serious about promoting peace.

Despite making her third trip to the region this year, with stops in Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, Rice faces doubts that Washington is really committed to pushing peace between Israel and the Palestinians or the broader Arab world.

Analysts also said circumstances are far from conducive to a revived peace process given divisions among the Palestinians and the political weakness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, leaving both sides ill-equipped to negotiate.

"I think they are serious about putting more effort in. I think they are not serious about putting in the kind of effort and presidential involvement that a final settlement will require," said Jon Alterman of the CSIS think tank.

There are also questions in the region about whether the U.S. diplomacy is motivated more by Washington's need for Arab support to help stabilize Iraq rather than by a desire to try to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"A healthy dose of skepticism is both reasonable and fair because ... there has not been a serious attempt to deal with this issue for a number of years," said Egypt's ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmy. "That said, any attempt to achieve peace in the Middle East is a risk well taken."

Rice's trip begins with a visit to Aswan, Egypt, where she will hold talks with the foreign ministers of the so-called Arab quartet -- Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- and with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

She also is expected to meet Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah.

The talks come ahead of next week's Arab League summit that is expected to reaffirm a 2002 Arab peace plan that offered Israel normal ties with Arab countries in return for full withdrawal from land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

'MORIBUND' TALKS

The idea, conceived by Saudi Arabia, was initially floated by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who on Friday urged Saudi King Abdullah to make the dramatic, if improbable, gesture of making his peace proposal in person in Jerusalem.

"What the moribund Israeli-Palestinian talks need most today is an emotional breakthrough," Friedman wrote. "Another Arab declaration, just reaffirming the Abdullah initiative, won't cut it."

The Bush administration appears to believe it is best to explore a final peace deal on the hardest issues, including the borders of a Palestinian state, refugees, Jerusalem, and a broader peace with other Arab states, rather than seek small, interim deals.

But the challenges on the ground remain great.

Rice herself has acknowledged that the creation of the Hamas-led Palestinian unity government complicates her task.

While it has signaled it will respect past peace deals, the unity government has not recognized Israel or renounced violence, two other international conditions for ending an Western embargo on direct aid to the government.

As a result, Olmert has said he will shun the government. He has also said he will limit his dealings with Abbas, a more moderate Fatah member who accepts the three conditions.

It is by no means clear if the unity government can bridge the differences between Hamas and Fatah or even prevent the internecine clashes that killed more than 300 Palestinians over the last year.

Given the impossibility of arranging a three-way meeting among Olmert, Abbas and Rice now, aides say the U.S. secretary may increasingly shuttle between them.

The State Department declined to say what might make Rice's trip a success and, predictably, tried to lower expectations.

"Sometimes success is in moving the process forward in things that you don't necessarily see at the moment," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"Secretary Rice, in many ways, I think is helping marinate the process for her successor to move this forward," said Brookings Institution analyst Bruce Riedel. "I wish her the best of luck but I don't think she can bring home the bacon."

AlertNet news is provided by