RICE TAPS CARTER, CLINTON FOR PEACE ADVICE

Rice taps Clinton, Carter for Middle East advice (Reuters)
Anxious not to repeat mistakes of past Middle East peace-making, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has turned to former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for tips ahead of her own conference this year.

Rice invited Carter, a vocal critic of Bush administration policies, to the State Department on Wednesday where the two discussed his Arab-Israeli peacemaking efforts in the 1970s, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Friday.

Their talks were "good and cordial," he said. They focused on the Middle East and not Carter's recent criticism of President George W. Bush's policies in Iraq and elsewhere.

A Soviet specialist, Rice also telephoned another former Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who tried, and ultimately failed, in his eight years in office to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together.

IN RELATED NEWS, TED TURNER AND KOFI ANNAN HAVE ARRIVED IN ISRAEL READY TO "HELP" WITH THE PEACE EFFORTS.

'We've come here to see if we can help' - Ted Turner - Ted Turner (JPOST)
Less than a week after announcing that Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations, joined its board of directors, the United Nations Foundation has sent a high-level delegation to Israel and Jordan.

The delegation arrived in Israel at 6 a.m. on Sunday and held meetings with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other prominent figures.

Heading the delegation were its chairman, Ted Turner, the founder of the CNN Cable News Network, and Annan.

The UN Foundation tries to build public-private partnerships that address the world's most pressing problems.

"We've come here to see if we can help," said Turner.

"We are here to listen and to see what is going on in the region," Annan told Peres. "Peace is of great concern to all of us."