International > With Gaza pullout ending, Sharon-Abbas summit seen

Haaretz said in its online edition that the leaders would meet at the end of the month after attending a September 14-16 summit at the United Nations. Israeli political sources confirmed talks were expected this month but had no details on the date or venue.

The Palestinians denied a summit had been set. But Abbas said in a published interview he would welcome new talks with Sharon that could help advance a U.S.-led "road map" to peace.

"An official negotiating meeting should be held in Jerusalem, and we are ready for any meeting," Abbas told the Palestinian daily al-Quds.

Last month's withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and a corner of the West Bank, the first removal by Israel of settlements from land where Palestinians seek statehood, has stirred hopes of ending almost five years of fighting.

But signaling a fresh spat that could abort negotiations, Abbas disputed Israel's argument that the Gaza Strip pullout, to be completed on Sept 15, ended its occupation of the territory.

"There are still differences in the final borders," Abbas said, referring to Gaza's boundary before Israel captured it, along with the West Bank, in the 1967 Middle East war.

While Israel has signed a deal to hand over Gaza's southern border to neighboring Egypt, it will retain control of the coastal strip's airspace and sea lanes indefinitely, citing security concerns. Palestinians fear being boxed into tiny Gaza.

PULLOUT TO END SEPT 15

Israel's chief of military logistics, Brigadier Eran Ofir, said all ground forces would be out of Gaza within two weeks.

"We believe that by September 15 we will have completed this operation," Ofir told Israel Radio.

Sharon and Abbas held their first summit in February, soon after Abbas was elected to succeed late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and declared a cease-fire seen as key to Israel's plan to quit Gaza and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority.

A second meeting, in Jerusalem on June 21, was overshadowed by a resurgence of bloodshed and recrimination over mutual failures to honor road map commitments. But Sharon and Abbas cemented an agreement to coordinate the Gaza pullout.

A statement from Sharon's office last month said Abbas called the pullout a "brave and historic decision" and voiced hope that it would "open a new page ... for the sake of peace and the future of both peoples and the region."

The Palestinians insist a final accord depends on Israel quitting all of the West Bank, where the vast majority of settlers live. Sharon says Israel will never cede West Bank settlement blocs, although he has hinted that dozens of smaller enclaves could be removed under a future peace agreement.

Pre-election power struggles on both sides also militate against viable peacemaking anytime soon.

Sharon is talking tough on settlement blocs to counter a bid to topple him by rightist hard-liners in his own party. Abbas faces a tough challenge from Hamas, an Islamic military group sworn to Israel's destruction, in a January parliamentary poll.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)

2005-09-03