During her last visit to the region, Dr Rice obtained from Israel an agreement to lift roadblocks which had been erected to protect Israeli populations. -- PHOTO: AP

On the plane taking her back to Washington after her talks in London and the Middle East, the top US diplomat told journalists that the checkpoints lifted recently had not improved life enough for the Palestinians.

But after two days of talks marked by no less than four meetings with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, she did not announce any new agreement.

'That means our monitors get out among the (Palestinian) communities, talk to the people who are trying to get through checkpoints and really get a sense of how the movements and access is working,' Dr Rice said.

'So you really have to look at the effect on a particular population or a particular enterprise, like a commercial enterprise, in a particular place,' Dr Rice said. 'I think we are going to really start to do that.'

US embassy staff in Israel will oversee the process, she added.

During her last visit to the region, Dr Rice obtained from Israel an agreement to lift roadblocks which had been erected to protect Israeli populations.

According to a United Nations report, Israel lifted 44 'obstacles' in the West Bank out of the 61 that it had promised to remove.

But most of them were thought to have little if no importance and the Palestinian population complained of mobility problems that undermined the West Bank economy and risked radicalising public opinion.

Nor did Dr Rice obtain any Israeli commitment to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, a key obstacle to the peace negotiations launched last November in Annapolis, Maryland.

The Middle East quartet - the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations - urged Israel on Friday to 'freeze all settlement activity including natural growth, and to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001.'

But Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni declined to make a public commitment when asked about the issue on Sunday.

She said only that Israel had to deal with the security situation on the ground on one hand and that it would fulfill its obligations toward the roadmap on the other.

Under the roadmap paving the way for a future Palestinian state living in peace with Israel, the Palestinians are required to stop attacks on Israelis, while Israel is urged to freeze settlements.

US President George W. Bush hopes a deal can be struck before he leaves office in January.

Dr Rice admitted on Monday that Mr Livni's remarks did not meet expectations from the quartet.

'I did not see any change from what Israelis have said, in what Tzipi Livni said,' Dr Rice noted, adding: 'But we are going to continue to press this issue.'

Although Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, spoke of a wide gap with Israel, Dr Rice said Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have made progress in the peace talks.

'I have had extensive discussions with them and it has helped to build my confidence in what they are doing,' Dr Rice said.

The troubles of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the target of a corruption probe, cast a shadow over the trip by Rice, who declined to make any comment on what she called an internal Israeli affair.

Mr Olmert met Mr Abbas on Monday. Israel reported significant progress after the meeting but Palestinians were more cautious. -- AFP