WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting irrelevance and a ticking clock, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embarked on yet another Middle East peacemaking trip, hoping to secure fragile Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and leave a viable process for the incoming Obama administration.

Meeting the end-of-the-year target date for an agreement is now unlikely, especially with political uncertainty in Israel and the Bush administration’s waning influence, but Rice intends to press the two sides to carry on and, if possible, come up with an outline of how they can move ahead after Jan. 20.

“We’re going to try to put this process in the best possible place going forward so that whomever comes next can formulate their policies, take a look at the process, and possibly use it, take it further,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.