WASHINGTON, March 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Top U.S. officials will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and European Union foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana Monday to discuss Saudi Arabia's latest Middle East peace initiative, news agencies reported.

The offer, publicized by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz last month, has been widely discussed in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere, with some experts arguing it could end the conflict that has gripped the region over the past 17 months, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The proposal calls for Arab countries to fully normalize relations with Israel in exchange for its return to its pre-1967 borders.

After initially giving the proposal a tepid welcome, U.S. officials embraced the proposal last week, stressing at the same time that the Saudi idea did not amount to a peace plan. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Saturday called the proposal an "important step."

"Coming a month before the Arab Summit, and therefore teeing this idea up for consideration at the Arab Summit, I think was an important step," Powell told CNN. "And I -- we have thanked the crown prince for this."

U.S National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, commenting on the idea of Israel's return to the 1967 borders, told Egyptian television Friday that "the definition of the borders of a Palestinian state must be decided during negotiations."

Solana said Sunday he was concerned by the outbreak of violence, adding that it could lead nowhere in resolving the half-century-old dispute. The EU foreign policy chief, who was in the Middle East last week, is scheduled to meet with Powell on Monday.

Meanwhile, Mubarak, who arrived in Washington for a six-day visit, will have talks with U.S. President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney and Powell.

However, the Egyptian leader has expressed skepticism about the Saudi initiative, arguing that he doubted that Israel would want to withdraw from the territories.

Iraq is also expected to figure prominently in Mubarak's White House talks.  

Since September 11, Mubarak has spoken out repeatedly against the extension of the war on terror to any Arab country. In addition, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher declared in early February that armed intervention by the United States against Iraq would be "a mistake" and would divide the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition.

Egypt became one of the world's leading recipients of U.S. aid after it became the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, in 1979. The country continues to receive more than 2 billion dollars annually in civilian and military assistance.

Last month, after Cairo offered qualified support to the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, Washington helped put together a 10.3 billion dollar, three-year international relief package for Egypt.

Commenting on U.S.-Egyptian intelligence sharing, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers said in January the United States "could not ask for more" from Cairo.

However, the two countries do not see eye to eye on the Arab-Israeli conflict, the war on terror, or Iraq.

Cairo says Washington is an "indispensable" mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, it frequently complains that the Bush administration does not get sufficiently involved and that, when it does, it takes stands that are biased towards Israel.

U.S. diplomat Richard Haass met with Mubarak and Maher last month in what he said was an attempt to persuade Egypt that Iraq presents an urgent threat to the region.

In May 2001, the United States strongly condemned a seven-year prison sentence passed on U.S.-Egyptian activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, with some prominent U.S. newspapers suggesting that the case endangered Cairo's aid package. Ibrahim was released on February 7 after Egypt's top appellate court ordered a retrial.