US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged Israel to reopen border crossings in the Gaza Strip that were shut down after Israel pulled out of the territory last month. "It is very clear that the crossings issue needs to get resolved…so that the kind of economic program that we all want to see in the Palestinian territories [can happen]," Rice told reporters at the end of a one-day visit to Canada. Her remarks came after Middle East envoy James Wolfensohn accused Israel of stalling on the opening of the border crossings. Rice said Israel must help Gaza “to be a place that Palestinians can see a different kind of life and therefore start to build the foundations for a Palestinian state."