Most Arab diplomats who have met with Bush are expecting him to propose an interim or provisional Palestinian state as a step toward final negotiations, but senior U.S. officials have said a final decision has not been made on that controversial idea. 

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced his opposition to the proposal. So did the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan -- the only Arab states that have diplomatic relations with Israel -- after a meeting Wednesday in Amman. 

"We don't understand the meaning of a provisional Palestinian state. It should be permanent in line with the definition of a final solution," Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said. 

The idea also is generating opposition in Congress, and Vice President Dick Cheney is said to be skeptical of recognizing an interim Palestinian state before seeing proof of Palestinian reforms. 

Aides say the president's goal is to offer a road map to resuming peace talks, but not a highly detailed new U.S. peace proposal. Bush, for example, does not plan to offer views on how to settle competing claims over Jerusalem or the debate over the right of return of Palestinian refugees -- both highly divisive issues. 

Instead, the president hopes to create a sense of progress by laying out a plan for Palestinian Authority reforms and his goal of a permanent Palestinian state. 

The Bush framework will call for an international Middle East conference this summer -- officials said the target now is August or September. The goal of that meeting would be to make additional progress toward narrowing differences between Israeli and Arab positions, and perhaps debating timetables for some of the goals Bush is to outline in his framework. 

The administration's outreach in advance of the announcement included a rare White House visit by a senior Palestinian official. Nabil Sha'ath, a top adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, met with several White House officials, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, to discuss Palestinian peace proposals and ongoing efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority. 

Aides said Tuesday's suicide bombing that killed 19 Israelis in Jerusalem would not deter the president's new diplomatic push, but senior officials said the attack could influence the timing of the initiative.

Two senior officials said late Tuesday that they did not expect an announcement until Thursday at the earliest, in part, one said, because the White House wanted a better sense of Israel's response to the deadly bombing. 

"You need to let things settle," one official said. 

Both said they expected Bush to meet with top advisers on the issue sometime Wednesday. 

The Israeli government -- which agreed in the early 1990s to swap land for peace with the Palestinians -- announced early Wednesday it is shifting its policy and will now seize Palestinian land in retaliation for terror attacks. 

A Powell trip is viewed as a logical follow-up to the Bush speech, but a final decision will not be made until the timing and contents of the president's speech are settled, the officials said. 

Powell's goal would be to explain the initiative and to build support for an international conference on the Middle East. "But the president has to go first," one of the officials said.