United States President Barack Obama will not present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a new peace plan during their meeting on Monday, a senior Obama administration official said Saturday.
"As for the specific plan... [on] what is the best way to move forward, we won't define it as a specific plan on a table," the official said in press briefing ahead of Netanyahu's visit.
Netanyahu is expected to depart for Washington late Saturday night ahead of his meeting with Obama at the White House.
The pair will meet at 10:30 A.M. Monday morning U.S. Eastern Time (5:30 P.M. Israel time), before holding a short press conference an hour-and-a-half later.
Senior administration officials also said Saturday that a Middle East peace agreement was in the national interest of the U.S.
"The meeting on Monday is a continuation of a very close relationship between the U.S. and Israel, very close friendship and cooperation on many issues," said one official.
"This is [the president's] first opportunity to take the next step to deepen and expand this cooperation. And I'm quite sure it will be the first of many such conversations."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, said on Saturday that Netanyahu was ready to declare his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"I believe Netanyahu is ready for a process whose end is two states for two peoples," Barak, who is also chairman of the center-left Labor party, told Channel 2.
Barak made the comments shortly before Netanyahu was to set off for the meeting with Obama in Washington, where he was likely to be asked to commit to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The defense minister said that during the trip, "Netanyahu will tell Obama: We're willing to engage in a process whose end is a regional peace accord."
In the Channel 2 interview, Barak also downplayed Netanyahu's reluctance to support a two-state solution in the face of mounting international pressure to do so.
"The Arabs say 'two states,' I don't see a reason why Netanyahu would not say that at the end of an accord... there will be two peoples living side by side in peace and mutual respect," he said.
The defense minister reiterated that he believed it was possible to reach a peace deal with Israel's neighbors within three years; he noted, however, that it would possibly take another few years before the deal could be implemented.
Barak added: "There is a difference between doing and saying. If one could solve the conflict through statements this would have happened long ago. There was such a government - so why is there no [peace] accord?"
"What is the big difference? The real thing is that the government will be willing to make tough decisions."
