US is looking for a strategy on Palestinian-Israeli negotiations

The Washington Post on Monday said "In a significant evolution of administration thinking, U.S. officials are debating whether to go beyond President Bush's endorsement last year of a Palestinian state and publicly detail terms for a final Middle East settlement, including a negotiating schedule for achieving an accord."

"We are sorting out for ourselves what would be appropriate for us to say about the endgame and the best time to say something about it...What we say about the endgame is something we are truly grappling with," an administration official said The Washington Post reported.

The Washington Post said the US is undecided on how to far to go in specifying the terms of an agreement on such issues as Israeli-Palestinian borders , Jerusalem and return of the Palestinian refugees and a specific timeline. The Post noted that the Arab states have rejected interim agreements which have failed in their incremental steps, adding that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's coming visit is will be dealing with these issues.