WASHINGTON - THE White House said on Monday it remains committed to Middle East peace efforts and will 'work every day' towards that goal until US President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

'We remain committed to the Annapolis process that we laid out last year that will help the Palestinians and the Israelis define a Palestinian state, and we're going to continue to work every day towards that goal,' said spokesman Dana Perino.

'They've made significant progress, and our work continues - including that, for example, of General (Jim) Jones who is helping to improve the Palestinians' security forces,' she said.

Her remarks came as Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad warned on Monday that peace efforts with Israel based on a two-state solution are teetering because of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

'Unfortunately a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders is teetering and risks collapsing under the weight of 170 settlements and nearly half a million settlers,' he said at a conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

'Time has become more pressing, as far as such a solution is concerned, with every brick added to the settlements, every new road built for the settlers and every stone lengthening the (separation) wall,' he said.

The two-state solution, backed by the international community, entails the creation of an independent, viable Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel.

The current peace talks were relaunched at a US-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007, but have made little visible progress since.

They have been further affected by the political crisis in Israel, which is heading for elections early next year after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stepped down amid claims of corruption. -- AFP