Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will meet Sunday evening with her Jordanian counterpart, Abdelelah Al-Khatib, in Amman for talks that will touch on a 2002 Saudi peace initiative ratified for a second time at an Arab League summit in Riyadh last month.

The Saudi initiative offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for a full withdrawal the pre-1967 boundaries, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.

Israeli officials said Friday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering entering U.S.-backed talks with an Arab League working group that could try to negotiate a sweeping land-for-peace accord based on the Saudi plan.

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But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Saturday told reporters that while one of the working groups might contact Israeli officials, he did not expect any negotiations.

"These groups are not mandated to negotiate and I do not imagine that they will negotiate on behalf of anyone, whether the Palestinians, Syria or Lebanon," he said.

The mission of the working groups would be to "lay out the political idea behind the Arab effort and explain what is meant by land for peace," the minister added.

"I imagine that this group which talks with Israel will be from countries which have diplomatic relations with Israel, one country or more and not necessarily Egypt," Aboul Gheit said.

He said Arab countries which do not have demands on Israel would not make gestures towards Israel until the land-for-peace deal has taken effect.

"Before that [land-for-peace] happens, there is no logic for Arab normalization towards Israel. That's not on the table and I very much doubt the Arab parties would accept that," he added.

Olmert has for weeks resisted pressure from the U.S., Egypt and others to commit to talks with the working group, which is expected to consist of Egypt and Jordan, and possibly other Arab states.

The meeting between the two foreign ministers comes after Jordan's King Abdullah invited Israeli, Palestinian and American politicians and peace activists to Amman in a bid to revive the diplomatic process.

A senior Israeli official close to the deliberations said the proposed working group talks were "an option" under active consideration and that "initial contacts" have been made to follow up on the Riyadh summit.

Another senior official said support was growing within the government to agree to the working group talks, and Olmert planned to make a final decision before a committee of Arab League members meet on Wednesday at the ministerial level in Cairo.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because a final decision has yet to be made. Olmert's office declined to comment.

At the Cairo meeting, the committee is expected to name several working groups, possibly including the one that will work with Israel. It is unclear how soon and how extensive contacts between the working group and Israel will be.

Officials said the talks could lead to a breakthrough but also risked igniting violence if the sides bogged down in disagreement.

In his initial response to the Riyadh summit, Olmert proposed holding a regional conference that would include the leaders of Arab countries like Saudi Arabia that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

But Olmert's proposal was rebuffed by the Saudis and others as a non-starter, and was viewed by Western and Arab diplomats as a diversionary tactic to avoid committing to more detailed negotiations through the smaller Arab League working group.

Olmert has said that he sees positive points in the Saudi-led peace initiative. But Israel opposes the return of Palestinian refugees, and wants to hold on to major settlement blocs in the West Bank.