A top Bush administration official briefed Jewish leaders on the president’s latest peace initiative.
Elliott Abrams, the deputy national security adviser who is often the last word on Israel-related issues, spoke Thursday in a conference call with the Jewish leaders, a number of participants said.
Abrams emphasized that a regional conference this fall announced by President Bush in a speech Monday would be confined to funding for Palestinian institution building and would not deal with final-status issues such as borders, Jerusalem and refugees.
His comments were echoed in a similar conversation the same day between Jewish media and two other senior administration officials.
