The US initiative involves a two-track effort that would tackle security and counter-terrorism issues which have dominated US diplomacy in the region since 2001 in parallel with long-neglected "final status" questions like the borders of a future Palestinian state, they said.

"Secretary Rice has staked out a position that she's going to be deeply involved in trying to move the process forward," said US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Friday's meeting is "an important get-together at an important moment in that there are opportunities to mobilize support for an energised push to see what the Israelis and Palestinians together can accomplish," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany -- the current European Union president -- EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will join Rice in the talks.

The meeting is timed to precede a rare three-way encounter between Rice, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tentatively set for mid-February.

The Quartet, which has not met formally since September, issued the roadmap in 2003, but the three-stage plan that should have led to the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005 has since languished.

Continuing attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants and the surprise election outcome a year ago that gave the Iranian-backed Islamic movement Hamas control over the Palestinian government have blocked movement along the route.

The plan's phased implementation meant crucial "final status" issues like the borders of a Palestinian state, the future of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees could not be tackled until Israel's security was guaranteed -- handing rejectionist elements backed by Syria and Iran a virtual veto power over progress.