Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, was on Friday trying to arrange a three-way meeting with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to help co-ordinate next month's evacuation of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, officials said.

Ms Rice on Friday met Ariel Sharon, Israeli prime minister, at his southern ranch just a few miles from Gaza as part of a hastily arranged visit announced last weekend, when renewed violence threatened to stall the pull-out. “It's very unusual for a US secretary of state to come here in such a hurry,” said a senior Israeli official. “There was anxiety that there would be a complete breakdown.”