US mulls unofficial Mid-East plan

The Geneva plan was launched at a gala ceremony

The authors of an unofficial Middle East peace plan are due to meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington on Friday.

Israel has condemned the proposals as a surrender to Palestinian demands.

US President George W Bush says he still backs the official international plan - known as the roadmap.

However he has given his blessing to Mr Powell's meeting with the Israeli and Palestinians authors of the alternative plan, launched in Geneva on Monday.

On Friday Israel expelled 12 Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip for up to two years following a Supreme Court ruling, Israeli and Palestininan sources said.

Israeli security sources said eight of the men were members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas while several of the others were from the Islamic Jihad group.

No overt support

The chief authors of the alternative Geneva plan are former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

The two men were to hold talks with Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, but the meeting was cancelled.

The negotiators were also refused a meeting with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

GENEVA ACCORD: MAIN POINTS Israeli withdrawal from almost all West Bank and Gaza Shared sovereignty over Jerusalem Palestinian renunciation of "right of return" The Geneva accord explained

However Mr Bush on Thursday welcomed their forthcoming talks with Mr Powell.

"We appreciate people discussing peace," he said.

Mr Powell has said he has a right to meet anyone with ideas on advancing peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Speaking in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Wednesday, Mr Powell said the plan presented "ideas that I think deserve to be listened to".

But he also defended the roadmap, saying it was "the only real plan that is out there that has been adopted by the parties".

The BBC's Adam Brooke in Washington says a meeting with Mr Wolfowitz would have taken the Geneva accord's message right to the conservative heart of Washington.

Our correspondent says all this suggests the White House is less than enthusiastic about lending the Geneva accord any overt support.

The Geneva plan, launched on Monday, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state and the dismantling of most Jewish settlements, going beyond the roadmap.

It envisages shared sovereignty over Jerusalem and grants Israel the right to decide how many Palestinian refugees can return to Israel.