Sharon, Abbas to meet

Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, and Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas are to meet this week, the first high-level talks between the two sides in months and a tentative step towards peace under United States urging.

Saturday's talks will probe how willing both sides are to build confidence and forge ahead with the US-backed peace "road map" promoted by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that envisions a Palestinian state by 2005.

Sharon has met Abbas in the past, but not since he took the influential post of Palestinian Prime Minister last month.