Sharon and Abbas to meet

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas within two weeks, marking the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in more than a year, Sharon's spokesman says.

"The (meeting) will apparently be during the week of February 8, with the objective being to make progress between both sides, contingent on continued efforts by the Palestinians to prevent terrorism to Israel," spokesman David Baker said on Saturday.

It would be the first meeting between the two since Abbas was elected to succeed Yasser Arafat as Palestinian president on January 9.

Hopes for Middle East peace have increased in recent days in the wake of a sharp reduction in violence. Israel has announced it would reduce its military raids and militant assassinations in response to Abbas's efforts to end attacks by gunmen.

Abbas, who is backed by the United States as a reformist, has ordered a deployment of Palestinian security forces in Gaza to stop gunmen from launching rockets and mortar bomb attacks against Israelis.

He has also been speaking to militant leaders to secure a truce ahead of an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this year. They say they will consider one if Israel agrees to more of their demands, including releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan met in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Saturday to discuss the ceasefire, as well as further security coordination, such as Israeli pullbacks from Palestinian towns.

- REUTERS