Contacts between key members of the US administration and authors of a symbolic Middle East peace pact rejected by the Israeli government have raised tensions between Washington and Jerusalem.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of Israel's staunchest US advocates, are due to meet the Israeli and Palestinian architects of the pact in Washington tomorrow.
Uri Zaki, a spokesman for Israel's leftist Yossi Beilin, one of the pact's authors, confirmed on Wednesday the scheduled meetings to include Beilin and former Palestinian cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Israel's rightwing government has rebuked Washington for the Powell meeting, but the prime minister's office declined immediate comment on the session with Wolfowitz.
Powell told a news conference in Morocco that he was required to examine all peace ideas, even from opposition figures. "The more we talk about peace, the better. I welcome ideas from whatever the source," he said.
On Tuesday, Israel's Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Powell it would be wrong to put his imprimatur on the peace plan by receiving its authors. But in Washington, White House spokesmen Scott McClellan said
yesterday President George W. Bush had no problems with Powell meeting the Geneva pact authors.
"The president appreciates the job the secretary of state is doing and recognises it is important for the secretary of state to meet with a variety of people who have views that may or may not be useful to moving forward in our efforts in the Middle East," McClellan said.