WASHINGTON (JTA) - It's like any courtship: Before Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu get to the big dance, they've got to learn the steps.

Delicate negotiations over Middle East policy between the two young administrations have delayed a first meeting between the two men as leaders - but not for long.

Instead of meeting in the second week of May, as had been rumored, the U.S. president and the Israeli prime minister are likely to get together by the end of that month, according to the officials at U.S. Jewish organizations who routinely bridge the two governments.

An earlier May meeting had been rumored as a possibility because Netanyahu had hoped to attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference, which begins May 3.

Officials emphasized that it's not just disagreements on how to frame policy creating the delay. Both leaders are preoccupied with other pressing matters: Obama with the economy and Netanyahu with an unwieldy coalition that already is showing strain.

Obama's top political adviser told JTA that a meeting was likely soon.

"I think there will be a meeting," David Axelrod said. "That's in the works, they had a good conversation" when they spoke on the phone after Netanyahu assumed office earlier this month. "Of course he wants to meet with him. I think that will happen in the very near future."

In remarks after meeting earlier this week with Jordanian King Abdullah II, Obama also said he would meet with Netanyahu, although he did not say when. He expressed sympathy for the Israeli prime minister's coalition-building difficulties.

"It was a very complicated process for" the Israeli government "to put a coalition together, they are going to have to formulate and solidify positions," the president said before adding immediately, "We can't talk forever."

He said that he wants to see concrete measures from Israel and the Palestinians over "the next several months."

"What we want to do is step back from the abyss," Obama said. "As hard it is, as difficult as it may be, the prospect of peace still exists."

First, though, terms must be set, and the sides are now working through a "two-state solution" two-step: The United States insists the prospect of Palestinian statehood is paramount; the Netanyahu government would prefer not to address the issue for now.

That was reflected less in direct exchanges and more in the passive aggressive drama that unfolded last week between Netanyahu and George Mitchell, Obama's top Middle East peace envoy.

The first step in the dance came when an unnamed Netanyahu official broke the government's silence last week on the issue of Palestinian statehood, telling Israeli media that the new government requires explicit Palestinian recognition of Israel's status as a Jewish state. The leak came just as Mitchell was in the region meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

On the Friday afternoon of April 17 - evening in Israel and the Sabbath - the State Department posted online without comment two videos of Mitchell's tour, both consisting almost entirely of the envoy's reaffirmation of two states.

"Policy of the United States under President Obama is clear," Mitchell said in one of the clips, flanked by U.S. and Israeli flags. That was followed by Netanyahu's partial retraction, issued as a "clarification" on Sunday.

That appears to be one step closer to a formula that would allow Israel to participate in Palestinian statehood negotiations without actually saying so.

Axelrod told JTA that the issue would be addressed when Obama and Netanyahu meet, and that the leaders "will have a full discussion about that."

The statehood question is not the only issue that needs working out.

Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel who is close to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said that Israel's settlement expansion meant that it was lagging behind the Palestinian Authority in meeting peace process goals.

"The U.S. and Israel are on some sort of collision course," Indyk said.