In Edinburgh, Tonge clarified her remarks, saying there had been "extensive" research in the United States supporting her contention that the "Israel lobby" had a disproportionate voice in Anglo-American foreign policy, referring to a paper written by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt that appeared in the March 23, 2006 issue of The London Review of Books.

Tonge defended her assertions as being unremarkable, noting that the speaker from the Israeli embassy "did not challenge me during the meeting at all."

She explained that her earlier comments "were about the Israeli lobby in politics. They were a big distance from being about Jewishness or anti-Semitism."

Tonge's September comments prompted an all-party group of lords led by the former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, to call for her censure. The group said her "irresponsible and inappropriate" comments "evoked a classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theory" and were symptomatic of the rise of anti-Semitism in the UK.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell also chastised Tonge, saying her remarks were "unacceptable" and had "clear anti-Semitic connotations."

In 2004, Tonge was stripped of her job as the party's shadow international development secretary for saying that if she were a Palestinian, she "might just consider becoming" a suicide bomber.

Leaders of Britain's Jewish community have been quick to call for an account. John Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, noted that, "If someone makes comments that are so at odds with what the party feels, and hopefully at odds with common decency, then one would hope that they are no longer made welcome in the party itself."

On Monday, Tonge met with the party leadership to consider her future place within the Liberal Democrat leadership in the wake of her renewed comments.

A statement issued after the meeting said, "The leader of the Liberal Democrats and the chief whip in the House of Lords have made a recommendation with regard to Jenny Tonge. Campbell is considering this overnight."

As the Register went to press, Kissinger's office was unable to confirm or deny the report. La Stampa stood by its story, although the Italian press is less rigorous in its authentication of stories as is the United States Press.

If true, there is speculation on which issues Kissinger would advise the Holy Father. Relations with Islam, Palestine and Israel, and Iraq - Kissinger has been critical of the conduct of the war but opposes a quick withdrawal - are likely to be high up on the agenda.

It has also been speculated that, in view of the Muslim hostility to Benedict's recent Regensburg speech, Kissinger might provide advice on dealing with an increasingly fractious Islamic world.

Furthermore, like the Pope, Kissinger has analyzed the challenges of globalization and might provide advice in this area as well.

"The idea [of his appointment] sounds like a good one," said veteran Vatican journalist Sandro Magister. "But so would it also be to consult other experts on geopolitics with different orientations."

As possible expert advisers with different perspectives, Magister listed Catholic philosopher and former diplomat Michael Novak; Bernard Lewis, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University; and foreign policy experts such as Charles Kupchan and G. John Ikenberry.

Expert Advice

The recruitment of Kissinger would not be unprecedented. Experts from a variety of disciplines, including the realm of economics, politics and philosophy, are regularly invited to advise popes and Vatican officials on current affairs.

Pope John Paul II was close friends with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Polish-born national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, partly because both had a common Polish heritage (though this caused the Soviets to suspect the Vatican of "fixing" the election of Karol Wojtyla, which occurred during the Carter presidency).

Similarly to John Paul and Brzezinski, Benedict and Kissinger are close in age and were both born in Bavaria (a Jew, Kissinger and his family fled Nazi Germany before World War II).

In recent years, other figures invited to share their expertise with the Holy See have included Paul Wolfowitz, a former President Bush adviser and now president of the World Bank; Michel Camdessus, the former director of the International Monetary Fund; American economist Jeffrey Sachs and Hans Tietmeyer, former governor of Germany's central bank.

The pontifical academies also regularly call on academic luminaries as consultants, such as Nobel laureates Gary Becker, the successor to Milton Friedman at the Chicago School of Economics, and Italian medical researcher Rita Levi-Montalcini.

In comments to the Register, Novak said that "many, maybe most" of these experts are not Catholic, but that the Pope "can call in certain experts he wants to talk to, or hear a paper from, with discussion in a small group."

Novak said this is true of both Benedict XVI and John Paul II, whom he described as having "very curious and searching minds."

Any appointment of Kissinger is likely to cause some unease, however. One Iranian radio station is already reporting the news as a "papal-Jewish conspiracy," while others object to the Pope consulting with someone who has been widely identified with the realpolitik school of political analysis, an approach that places practical considerations before morality.

'Different Voices'

Yet like Pope John Paul II, Benedict XVI is winning recognition for his intellectual ability and his capacity to discuss international issues with a diverse spectrum of world figures, ranging from the Dalai Lama to the late atheist polemicist Oriana Fallaci and to Mustapha Cherif, an Algerian Muslim philosopher whom he met this month.

"Such an appointment would really show Benedict XVI to be contrary to his media image, as someone who's willing to listen to other voices not in accordance with his views," said one Holy See diplomat about the reported enlistment of Kissinger as a papal adviser. "It's always helpful to hear different voices offering different views."

Since being formed five months ago, the 47-state council has approved several resolutions condemning Israeli security tactics, but has not turned its attention to any other country.

"There are surely other situations, beside the one in the Middle East, which would merit scrutiny at a special session," Annan said.

"I would suggest that Darfur is a glaring case in point."

Israeli officials said Washington understands that further progress depends on the success of the cease-fire, which took effect on Sunday.

Olmert, who said at Sde Boker that Israel is willing to release many prisoners in return for abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, is to meet Wednesday with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to discuss the exchange.

As of Tuesday night, it was still unclear whether Rice would also travel to Jerusalem to meet with Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, or whether she would merely go to Jericho for a meeting with Abbas following her scheduled visit to Jordan. She was slated to make a final decision late Tuesday night.

Abbas, who met Tuesday with King Abdullah of Jordan, said after the meeting that he was encouraged by Olmert's Sde Boker speech, in which the prime minister spoke of negotiating a final-status agreement with the Palestinians, and particularly by Olmert's favorable reference to the peace plan proposed by the Arab League in 2002.

But members of Olmert's staff told foreign diplomats on Tuesday that the prime minister is opposed to beginning final-status negotiations with Abbas unless the PA government recognizes Israel, renounces violence and accepts previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

These are the three conditions set by the Quartet (the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia) for recognition of the PA government.

The staffers stressed that the prime minister's speech at Sde Boker did not imply that he was backtracking on his previous insistence that the Quartet's demands be met. Israel, they said, would not accept any compromises on these conditions.

They also said that Olmert has no intention of skipping the second stage of the road map peace plan, which calls for a Palestinian state in temporary borders, unless and until the PA complies fully with its obligations under the plan's first stage - namely, eradicating the terrorist infrastructure.

Government officials consequently expressed satisfaction with the report they received from White House envoy Elliott Abrams, who arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday after a visit to Europe.

Abrams told Olmert that the EU leaders promised him that any diplomatic initiative in the Middle East would be coordinated in advance with the United States, and that a plan for reviving Israeli-Palestinian talks that was recently unveiled by Spain, France and Italy would not be promoted without America's consent.