The US State Department defended Secretary of State Colin Powell's meeting today with the authors of an unofficial Middle East peace plan as constructive and said the initiative did not contradict a US-backed peace "road map."
But deputy spokesman Mr Adam Ereli also said the meeting left the administration "more convinced than ever" of the road map's viability.
He stressed that in the end, peace between Israel and the Palestinians will be decided by governments, not by some informal process.
After the Powell meeting, the plan's author's - Israeli dove Mr Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian minister Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo - said they would have more contact with the Bush administration in the future about their peace initiative, which is opposed by Israel.
"We were today encouraged by the words of Secretary Powell as yesterday we were encouraged by the words of the president who described the Geneva Accord as constructive," Mr Rabbo said.
Israel has dismissed the unofficial plan, saying its two authors had no authority to negotiate the peace process.
The plan would have Israel hand over lands it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, including Arab East Jerusalem, to Palestinians to set up a state alongside Israel.
It goes beyond the "road map" in mandating the evacuation of most Jewish settlements on occupied land and giving Israel the right to decide how many Palestinian refugees to take back