Israel issued a rare rebuke to Washington today, saying US Secretary of State Colin Powell would be making a mistake if he met the architects of a symbolic Middle East peace plan.
Mr Powell responded by saying at a news conference in Tunis he had a right to meet anyone with ideas on Middle East peace.
Later, on a flight to the Moroccan city Marrakesh, Mr Powell told reporters he expected to meet the authors of the unofficial peace plan, known as the Geneva Accord, possibly on Friday.
The authors, Israeli left-wing opposition politician Mr Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian cabinet member Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, are expected to be in Washington later this week to meet people inside and outside the administration, Mr Powell said.
"I would expect in the course of those conversations to have a chance to see them. (It) might be Friday."
A spokesman for Mr Beilin also said the meeting with Mr Powell was expected on Friday.
Israeli Vice Premier Mr Ehud Olmert sharply criticised Mr Powell for praising the accord, whose authors are trying to capitalise on broad international support following its launch yesterday at a gala ceremony in Switzerland.
"I think he (Powell) is making a mistake," Mr Olmert told Israel Radio of the expected talks. "I think he is not helping the process. I think this is a wrong step by a representative of the American administration."
Both Israel's right-leaning government and Palestinian militants spearheading a three-year-old uprising have denounced the agreement, drafted by moderates from both sides, as "capitulation".