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Rabbi Uri Regev, director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center in Israel, said he welcomed the proposal to drop the nationality clause and would consider Melchior's proposal about directing conversion candidates to a joint institute. "But nobody should mistakenly think that our movement intends to abandon its converts and its courts."

If the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate opens its doors to non-Jewish immigrants and stops demanding they adhere to Orthodoxy as a condition for converting, most potential converts would probably choose an Orthodox procedure, Regev said.

The Reform movement might even recommend that some converts go to liberal Orthodox religious courts to convert. But the movement will continue to demand that the state of Israel recognize Reform conversions.

He added that the non-Orthodox movements will only know in March whether Melchior's package will work. That is when the first group of students at a joint institute will complete their conversion course, and the Chief Rabbinate will decide whether to convert them.

The proposals have been presented to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has given Melchior, the minister for Israeli society and world Jewish communities, the green light to carry out a round of talks with all sides in the coming weeks.

Melchior's office hopes to present a formal proposal to the government before April, when the Supreme Court is due to resume hearings on the conversion issue and possibly issue a final ruling on a conflict that has strained Israel-diaspora relations for many years.

Barak is expected to be too tied up with his ambitious peace agenda to be personally involved in hammering out a compromise. But his support reflects a desire to enlist the help of U.S. Jews in anticipation of intense lobbying needed in Washington to secure funding for possible peace deals with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians.