WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in an interview published yesterday that President Bush is weighing the creation of a "provisional" Palestinian state "in the very near future," before its final borders are negotiated with Israel.

A White House official confirmed that the idea has been "kicked around" as the president prepares his plan for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer minimized it as just one piece of advice, among many, that Bush and Powell have been getting from a variety of quarters.

The Powell disclosure is one of the few concrete ideas to emerge from the administration's deliberations as Bush tries to balance competing demands from Israeli and Arab leaders. Bush, who met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is scheduled to see Saudi Arabia's foreign minister today.

In an interview with the Arabic-language paper Al-Hayat, published in London, Powell said Bush knows that for a Palestinian state to be created, "it may be necessary to have a provisional state, an interim step."

The purpose would be to have something "that can be called a state," Powell said, "something in the very near future that the Palestinian people can see as a step on the way toward the settlement of this [conflict] in a comprehensive way, something they can put their hopes in, their dreams in, something the international community can invest in with some confidence."

The idea is similar to a suggestion made recently by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and a plan developed jointly by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Ahmed Qurei, the speaker of the Palestinian parliament and a top aide to Yasser Arafat.

Powell did not detail what a "provisional state" might entail. But the Peres-Qurei plan, as described by the Israeli press, calls for recognition of a Palestinian state on land Israel has turned over to Palestinian control in previous agreements - about two-thirds of the Gaza Strip and 40 percent of the West Bank.

Such a state would be created with the understanding that the Palestinians were not giving up their claim to all of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and that final borders, along with the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees, would be negotiated.

Statehood would bring international recognition to Palestine and formalize relations with other nations, including Israel. The problem of tracking down terrorists could pose a major obstacle for Israel unless the Palestinians agree that hot-pursuit operations do not constitute an act of war. The idea has failed to gain much momentum in Israel, even within Peres' own Labor Party.

A provisional state may be one of "several steps" needed to reach full statehood for the Palestinians, Powell said.

Elaborating yesterday while en route to British Columbia for a meeting with other foreign ministers, he said: "There are those who believe that unless you have a political horizon put in place that people can see, it'll be hard for the Arabs or Palestinians to move forward with the kinds of reforms that are required to improve security and to bring greater accountability to the Palestinian leadership."

Sharon has said that he expects a Palestinian state to be created eventually, but only at the end of a lengthy process. An Israeli official in Washington did not flatly reject the idea raised by Powell.

"Many things are possible if we have reform in the Palestinian Authority," said the official, who declined to be identified. Israel would not agree to a state "that is the mirror image of the current Palestinian Authority. How can one talk about giving more political power or more land to a regime that acquiesces in terrorist activity?"

Powell said a provisional state would have to be open and corruption-free, with competent security organizations. But with these conditions, he came close to endorsing the idea.

"If you put all of that in that kind of a state, it will become more efficient and it will help us develop the confidence that is needed between the two parties to move forward," Powell said.

The idea of an interim state reflects the widespread view in the Bush administration that there is no hope of a final agreement between the two sides anytime soon.

But the White House reaction suggested that Powell might have overstepped in disclosing prematurely that Bush is considering the idea.

Fleischer said Bush is "listening to a variety of the pieces of advice he gets from many, many sources." Speaking of Powell, he said: "If you asked the secretary, he would say to you that he is reflecting on some of the things that we've heard from different people from around the world." Asked if Powell's remarks had annoyed the White House, another official there replied: "I've not seen any evidence of that."

If Bush were to adopt the idea, it would probably generate controversy in Washington. The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying organization that wields strong influence on Capitol Hill, reacted to Powell's comments with skepticism.

"Without the Palestinian Authority's rejection and elimination of terrorism emanating from its territory, a state created out of that entity would certainly undermine America's war on terrorism by rewarding Palestinian violence and terrorism," said spokesman Josh Block.

The Al-Hayat interview was conducted Monday, hours after Bush met with Sharon at the White House. Bush's comments afterward left the impression that Sharon had persuaded the president to slow down U.S. efforts to launch a new Israeli-Palestinian peace process until major Palestinian reforms are put in place. Bush said that "conditions aren't there yet" for a summer peace summit, because "no one has confidence in the emerging Palestinian government."

Powell, in the interview, highlighted actions Bush has taken to support the Palestinian cause. These included Bush's speech April 4, in which the president called for an end to Israeli "occupation" in the West Bank and Gaza and a halt to the building of Jewish settlements.

Powell indicated to the Saudi-owned newspaper that the president would not attempt to spell out where final borders should be drawn. But he suggested that negotiations should be based on United Nations resolutions that call for Israeli withdrawal to secure boundaries and a Saudi peace plan that would grant Israel normal relations with the Arab world in return for withdrawal from all land captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

He also hinted that the president might set a target date for a comprehensive settlement that "won't be in the far-too-distant future."