The time is not ripe for a U.S.-promoted Middle East peace plan, President Obama's chief of staff said.

"A number of people have advocated that," Rahm Emanuel said Monday on the Charlie Rose show on Bloomberg Television.

"That time is not now," Emanuel said. The "time now is to get back to the proximity talks, have those conversations that eventually will lead to direct negotiations, start to make the hard decisions to bring a balance between the aspirations of the Israelis for security and make that blend with the aspirations of the Palestinian people for their sovereignty."

A number of Obama administration officials in recent weeks have suggested in leaks to media that the president is considering such a plan by the fall. Obama himself, along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and now Emanuel, have pushed back against those reports, saying it would be best to leave a plan to the parties.