Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday in a special recorded interview broadcast by the Palestinian Satellite Television that an agreement between the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian factions on halting attacks against Israel "is closed."

Abbas said that the ongoing Palestinian dialogue among different Palestinian factions and militant groups had achieved progress and should lead soon to an agreement.

He added that the Palestinian dialogue that is held in Gaza had promoted to its highest level while differences and gaps had been minimized.

Abbas who arrived in Gaza on Tuesday night began a serious national dialogue with all Palestinian political factions and militant groups aiming at reaching an agreement on declaring a cease-fire with Israel.

All factions and militant groups representatives including Islamic Hamas and Jihad (Holy War) movements had said they are ready to positively deal with a cease-fire, but Israel should first announce an end to its military operations and security measures practiced in the Palestinian territories.

"The Palestinian dialogue is not new. We had many dialogue sessions in the past, and our current dialogue is not strange, it is intensive and goes on in a positive atmosphere," said Abbas.

He accused the Israeli government of obstructing the redeployment of the Palestinian national security forces in the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, more than 3,000 Palestinian security officers were redeployed in the area between Gaza City and the northern area of the Gaza Strip, where there was an obvious drop of rockets attacks carried out by Palestinian militants against Israel.

"We hope that the Israeli government would positively respond to the serious Palestinian actions by accepting a continuation of Palestinian security forces redeployment in the entire Gaza Strip,"said Abbas.

"The Palestinian side began to put is feet on the road to move from one stage to another, and to carry out more redeployment aiming at restoring security," he said. "The Israeli side should also positively respond to the Palestinian steps."

Abbas announced that he would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon right after the new Palestinian cabinet is reshuffled within the coming two weeks.

"It doesn't matter who would meet with Sharon, either me or Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei. But the most important thing is that there are many issues to be discussed, mainly the roadmap peace plan and the Israeli unilateral disengagement plan."

He said that he does not know why Sharon boycotted him right after he was elected as the new leader of the Palestinians, adding in a sense of humor, "and I don't know if he is still boycotting me."

"If there is going to be a meeting, the major issue we would discuss with Sharon is that the unilateral disengagement plan must not be isolated or separated from the roadmap peace plan in the Middle East," said Abbas.

Speaking about the internal Palestinian situation, he said that the 12 different Palestinian security and police apparatuses had already been merged into three major security and police forces.

"The national security forces are taking care of the borders and had redeployed in Gaza and in the north, then we have the police and the internal security who also redeployed inside the towns to impose law and discipline.

He insisted that contacts with the Israeli side is not enough, adding that "there should be coordination and also a positive Israeli response to these contacts and coordination."

He also revealed that US President George W. Bush had invited him to visit the White House whenever he wants, adding "at the current situation we can't head to visit in the United States."

"We would only go there after both sides make tangible achievements. We would go there and ask for a complete US political, financial and economical support. If they don't help us, we won't be able to take off," said Abbas.