Israel freed nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners to a hero's welcome in the West Bank on Monday, seeking to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a new peace mission.

Rice, on a 25-hour visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, welcomed the release as "something that matters a lot to the Palestinians".

She said she still aimed to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before January, when President George W. Bush leaves office, but played down chances of any partial accord in time for the U.N. General Assembly, which begins in September.

"It's extremely important just to keep making forward progress rather than trying prematurely to come to some set of conclusions," Rice told reporters as she flew to Tel Aviv.

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