FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In the Middle East, Palestinian militant groups are close to announcing a three-month cease-fire. Israeli forces are getting ready to hand over to the Palestinians security responsibility for Gaza. U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is in the region today to try and keep the road map plan for peace on track. CNN's senior international correspondent, Sheila MacVicar, is with Rice in Jerusalem.</s>SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The third visit to the region in less than a month of a senior U.S. administration official is under way, a symptom perhaps of just how fragile this peace process is and how much encouragement, influence and pressure it requires from U.S. administration officials. Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, is here. She has been in meetings with the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and key members of his cabinet. On Ms. Rice's agenda, clearly she will push for the disarmament and dismantlement of the Palestinian militant factions, something we've heard about very often from President Bush in recent weeks. We expected those factions will announce a temporary cease-fire tomorrow, on Sunday. We're being told that it will be for a three- month period, that it will apply not just in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but throughout all of Israel. And we're also being told that there may be conditions attached to that cease-fire. It is not yet clear what those condition are, but some of the factions are saying that if their conditions are not met and if Israel continues its policy of targeted assassinations, then they will not feel obliged to hold to that cease-fire for three months. Now, Condoleezza Rice meeting today with the Palestinians. She will meet on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon. One of the issues that the Palestinian prime minister is hoping that she will raise with the Israelis is not only continued progress on the Israeli side of the road map, but also the question of Palestinian prisoners. Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Jerusalem.
Rice Scheduled to Meet With Abbas, Sharon