The State Department Monday refused to directly answer journalists who asked whether the United States offered a draft of a declaration to be jointly announced by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "Is the U.S. trying to dictate what they come up with?" asked one reporter at the daily news briefing. American State Department spokesman Sean McCormack replied, "Well, obviously, we're going to talk to both sides as they converge on a common understanding of a document." 

The journalists tried once more by asking, "But I'm still missing the 'yes' or 'no.' Is there a draft floating around out there?" McCormack again dodged the question, saying that "I am not going to comment on either any particular substance or any particular mechanism by which we try to move that process forward."