A senior Palestinian official said on Saturday that there will be a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon early next month.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), told reporters that the meeting between Abbas and Sharon has been confirmed, but the specific time and venue hasn't been set.

He added that the meeting might be taking place on the border between the northern Gaza Strip and Israel, or in Tel Aviv any dayin the first week of October.

It is the first meeting between the two leaders after Israel will have completed later Saturday withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank under the unilateral disengagement plan.

But Israel is still locked in an unresolved row with the PNA and Egypt over the closed Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after Israel withdrew its troops from the Gaza Strip on Monday.

"The talks between Abbas and Sharon will focus on the implementation of the roadmap peace plan and the resumption of the talks on the final status issues," said Abu Rudeineh.

Abbas has resisted Israeli pressure to disarm Palestinian militant groups by force as precondition to resume talks on Palestinian statehood for fear of civil war.

The last meeting between Sharon and Abbas was held in Jerusalem on June 21 but yielded no positive result.

Violence has sharply dropped since Abbas and Sharon declared a ceasefire in the Feb. 8 summit in Egypt.

Source:Xinhua