Jordan's King Abdullah will meet U.S. President George W. Bush next week in Washington to push forward a U.S. plan to reinvigorate Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, officials said on Friday.

Palace officials said the surprise visit by the staunch U.S. ally to the White House on Tuesday would focus on efforts to broaden support for Bush's call on Monday for a Middle East peace conference later in the year, probably in the United States.

They say the pro-Western monarch was heartened by Bush's new plan to revive peace moves leading to the goal of an Arab-Israeli settlement based on two states, Israel and Palestine.

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Jordan, along with key U.S. allies in the region such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, has long wanted Bush to become more involved in Middle East peacemaking. Bush is due to leave office in 18 months.

The king is spearheading an Arab campaign to get Israel to accept a plan offering a sweeping land-for-peace initiative and has long sought an international meeting that would bring together Israel, moderate Palestinian leaders and their Arab neighbors.

Jordan, which hosts the largest number of Palestinians outside the West Bank and Gaza, fears time is running out because of rising Iranian influence and the spread of Islamic fundamentalism that has brought more regional instability.

On Thursday, the Jordanian king and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia discussed Bush's proposal by telephone.

The two monarchs discussed "the ongoing efforts to relaunch the peace negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, particularly in the light of the U.S. president's call for an international conference on the Middle East," they said in a joint statement.

The two leaders "underscored the importance of conducting a comprehensive peace process that eventually leads to the setting up of an independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian soil."

In his White House speech Monday, Bush said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would lead the peace conference, with attendance limited to states that back the creation of a Palestinian state, particularly Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The Jordanian monarch has already welcomed the proposal, calling it "a positive step in the right direction."