US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Paris next week to attend a donors conference for Afghanistan and then travel to Israel and the West Bank, the State Department said.
Asked why Ms Rice was travelling to the Middle East, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "It's really to take stock of where they are, to continue pushing the process forward.
"I know there is a lot of political turmoil in Israel," he added, alluding to the political troubles of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is mired in a corruption scandal that could force him to step down.
Mr Olmert has denied wrongdoing in the corruption affair in which an American financier alleged in court testimony last month that he gave cash-filled envelopes to the Israeli leader in the days before he became prime minister.
Foreign policy analysts say Mr Olmert's difficulties have drastically reduced the chances of achieving President George W. Bush's goal of securing an outline peace agreement by the end of this year.