WASHINGTON Ñ U.S. officials said the future of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is a source of disagreement within the Bush administration. The State Department, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, maintains that Israel must be held responsible for Arafat's safety and that Washington should insist that the Palestinian leader remain in the PA areas.

But aides in the White House as well as the Defense Department have advised that the United States seek to encourage Arafat to leave the Palestinian areas as part of a drive to lower regional tensions. They have warned that Arafat's goal is to spark a Middle East war that would pit Israel against the Palestinians, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.

U.S. officials acknowledge that the State Department and White House have examined the issue with such allies as Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, Middle East Newsline reported. But the officials said the administration does not want to be seen as promoting the prospect that Arafat will flee the Palestinian Authority unless he is under clear physical danger.

So far, officials said, Morocco has agreed to provide a temporary haven to Arafat should he flee the Palestinian areas of the West Bank. They said several countries, including Egypt and Israel, have discussed such a prospect with Morocco. The governments of Egypt and Morocco have denied that a safe haven for Arafat has been mooted.

"This is a very sensitive issue," a U.S. diplomatic source aware of the administration effort said. "On one hand, we don't want to be seen as helping depose Arafat. On the other hand, the United States does not want Arafat to be harmed and the situation to spin completely out of control."

Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Bush has relayed signals that he no longer views Arafat as indispensable. Satloff said Bush made this clear last week during a news conference in which he urged for an end to Israel's military offensive in the West Bank.

"Indeed, the most important sentence in the speech was the one not uttered Ñ i.e., no reference to Arafat as continuing to play a central role in Arab-Israeli diplomacy," Satloff said in an analysis by the institute.

"...it is virtually impossible to read this speech and not conclude that Secretary Powell's mission to the Middle East is Arafat's last chance to perform or else face diplomatic oblivion."

The State Department has relayed a message to Israel urging its military to end the current offensive against the PA and Arafat. The message warned Israel of the consequences of its continued siege of the PA chairman.

Powell has pressed Israel to allow U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni to meet Arafat in Ramallah. Israel is said to have rejected the request, saying Arafat is to remain under complete isolation.

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