JERUSALEM -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is wrapping up the Bush administration's yearlong attempt to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace, with little to show for her investment.

When she hands the diplomatic baton to President-elect Barack Obama's administration in January, Rice will pass along a diplomatic initiative that has helped dispel the mutual distrust that chilled peace talks for seven years.

Beyond that, there have been few tangible successes since Bush launched his late-term diplomatic push last November in Annapolis, Md.

Since Annapolis, Israel has defied U.S. pressure by building hundreds of new homes in disputed West Bank settlements and expanded its network of security roadblocks that impede Palestinian economic development.

The Palestinians remain divided, with hard-line Hamas leaders who refuse to recognize Israel holding firm control of the Gaza Strip. That reality has always made striking a peace deal with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas problematic at best.

`DEAD ON ARRIVAL'

''The Annapolis process was dead on arrival, and anyone who thought otherwise was deceiving themselves,'' said Yossi Alpher, a former Israeli intelligence official who serves as co-director of www.bitterlemons.org, a website that focuses on Middle East politics.

The major players in the talks met Sunday on the Red Sea coast in Egypt in a bid to keep the process from being sidetracked when Bush steps aside for Obama.

The Middle East Quartet ended the meeting in Sharm el-Sheik by endorsing the Israeli-Palestinian talks as ``substantial and promising.''

''They have succeeded in putting in place a solid negotiating structure for continued progress in the future,'' the quartet, made up of the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union, said after the meeting.

PALESTINIAN POLICE

The Bush administration's most tangible success this year has come in rebuilding the Palestinian police force.

After watching the Palestinian Authority's security forces swiftly routed from the Gaza Strip last year in a humiliating showdown with Hamas militants, the United States revved up efforts to build a reliable Palestinian security service in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority soldiers received U.S.-backed training, European Union support and Israeli-approved weapons before being dispatched to the bellwether West Bank cities of Nablus, Hebron and Jenin.

So far, the small but expanding forces have drawn cautious public praise.

Special correspondent Cliff Churgin contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

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