US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will break with standard protocol and will not meet with Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu during her upcoming visit to the region, apparently as punishment for Netanyahu's recent call to build up the so-called E-1 corridor between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. The United States opposes the plan.

The snub is the second this year from senior US figures for Netanyahu. In January  President George W. Bush refused to meet with the Likud chairman until a public outcry forced him to schedule time with the Opposition Leader.