WASHINGTON - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is set to arrive Wednesday in the United States, where she will meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, and apparently also with Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

In her meetings with Rice and Hadley, Livni will discuss the situation in Lebanon, moves to block Iran's nuclear program and the latest developments in the Palestinian arena.

Rice will tell Livni at their meeting Wednesday that Israel must help bolster the standing of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

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Israel made clear to the Americans ahead of this visit that negotiations with Syria are not on the agenda for now. An official familiar with the preparatory talks said that Israeli and American positions on this subject had grown closer following the war in Lebanon.

On Iran, Livni will want to hear more about American moves to impose sanctions through the United Nations Security Council. Rice told reporters on Tuesday during a visit to Canada that there is still no clear Iranian proposal to suspend uranium enrichment, and that unless such a proposal arrives soon, sanctions will be imposed on Tehran. She added that sanctions might be imposed gradually and that more than one Security Council resolution will be needed to tighten them.

Rice and Livni will try to coordinate a response to the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. Both countries do not consider this development sufficient reason to alter the prerequisites for talks with the PA. Israel will update the U.S. on potential gestures toward Abbas, among them the possibility of handing over responsibility for West Bank towns to the presidential force under his command.

In Washington, Livni is scheduled to meet with the heads of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Congressional leaders and Jewish lawmakers. She will address the board of trustees of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Friday.

Livni will go to New York at the end of the week for no fewer than 20 meetings with heads of state and foreign ministers, there for the UN General Assembly meeting.