Days before a White House summit, the Obama administration signaled on Saturday that the U.S. president would press Israel's new government to endorse Palestinian statehood and halt settlement expansion, Reuters reported.
But senior U.S. officials downplayed prospects of a confrontation between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as they grapple with rare differences between Washington and its close ally.
"The president does not believe it's going in a bad direction," one Obama aide told reporters when asked about the refusal so far by Netanyahu's right-leaning government to embrace a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
Administration officials said Obama would push that principle, the cornerstone of U.S. Middle East policy for years, in his talks with Netanyahu, which are aimed at reviving the stalled peace process.
"Two states living side by side in peace and security -- my guess is they'll discuss that, and it's an issue they'll continue to work through," an official said.
Obama, who has promised to make Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking a high priority since taking office in January, will also stress U.S. opposition to continued construction of Jewish settlements on occupied land in the West Bank.
"The Israelis have obligations related to settlements and outposts," an official said. "It will certainly be a topic for them to discuss."
Netanyahu has resisted calls to freeze settlement expansion on land Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The international community considers the settlements illegal, a position disputed by Israel.