Sharon, Abbas to meet early next month

The meeting, likely to be in early May, is set to focus on planning Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip later this year, sources on both sides said.

The prospect of settler resistance, the possible use of force by Israeli security forces and the likelihood of militant groups wanting to portray the withdrawal as a retreat under fire have created a delicate situation for Israelis and Palestinians.

Right-wing settler leaders and rabbis have called for resistance in one form or another, with some calling on security forces to disobey orders to evict all 8,000 Gaza settlers and four isolated West Bank outposts.

Sharon is also expected to announce a delay to the four-week withdrawal -- originally planned for late July -- until the middle of August.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian civil affairs minister Mohammed Dahlan said on Friday that they had set up joint committees to coordinate Israeli and Palestinian sides of the withdrawal.

Abbas and Sharon first met at a peace summit in Egypt in February but the honeymoon period has faded in recent weeks after the Israeli leader accused his Palestinian counterpart of failing to crack down on militant groups such as Hamas.

Abbas has denounced an Israeli plan to keep its large settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank, a move that has also drawn US criticism.

The meeting is likely to be held before Abbas heads to Washington in mid-May for talks with US President George W. Bush, their first summit since Abbas succeeded the late Yasser Arafat at the head of the Palestinian Authority.

During their previous encounter in February in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the two leaders agreed on a truce aimed at ending more than four years of deadly violence, which has since proved less than watertight.