Later that afternoon on the train to New York, Beilin put a good face on the encounter. Powell “was very, very curious about the initiative,” he told NEWSWEEK. (A State Department spokesman quickly said Powell has not read the document.) Another State official who attended the meeting, Assistant Secretary William Burns, called the initiative “fascinating,” said Beilin. But the State spokesman said Burns was referring to the concept of the shadow peace plan, not the substance of the agreement. President Bush coolly accepted the meeting, saying, “We appreciate people discussing peace.” Some White House officials would have preferred that the meeting never happened.
