The postponement of today’s talks between Israeli leader Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas sent an ominous signal, but officials on both sides said it was due to scheduling problems and not political differences.

“The meeting...was put off for technical reasons,” Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said. Palestinian officials said Sharon and Abbas might meet tomorrow but Israel said no new date had been set.

The road map outlines reciprocal steps leading to an end to intifada and creation of a Palestinian state by 2005. Israel’s Cabinet approved the plan on Sunday, with reservations. The Palestinians accepted it last month.

Palestinians say an Abbas-Sharon meeting could set the tone for a trilateral summit expected next week with US President George W. Bush.

But they voiced concern over a list of 14 Israeli reservations about the road map, many of them security-related, which appeared in Israeli newspapers yesterday.

“Not only will we not accept them (the reservations), we will not even discuss them,” Amr said. “We hope the US administration...lives up to its promise not to change (the road map) because any change will kill the plan.”

According to the reported list, the Palestinians would have to waive the right of return of refugees to what is now Israel.

Implementation of the road map was unlikely to start before the summit expected between Bush, Sharon and Abbas in Jordan. No date has been announced for the talks.

Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported Egypt was likely to host a separate US-Arab summit attended by Bush in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on June 4. MENA said King Mohammed of Morocco, King Hamad of Bahrain, King Abdallah of Jordan and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia would also participate, along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Bush wants to ensure the success of the most ambitious Middle East peace plan in two years and display evenhandedness to Arabs angered by the US-led war in Iraq.

He pressured Sharon and his Cabinet into accepting the road map after Washington promised to address Israel’s reservations during the plan’s implementation but ruled out making changes.

Sharon defended the road map to legislators from his right-wing Likud party on Monday, saying he also had doubts about the plan but realized Israel could not continue its occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for ever.

Israelis asked whether Sharon had had a change of heart or chose the politically charged word “occupation” in a bid to show Washington, Israel’s key ally, that he was serious about peace.