Palestinian officials said on Saturday President Mahmoud Abbas would meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on June 7 but Sharon's aides denied a date had been set or plans finalized. The two have met once before, and a summit on that date would follow Abbas's planned talks this Thursday with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington. "I will meet Ariel Sharon on June 7," Abbas told reporters in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "This is the proposed date so far." A senior Palestinian official travelling with Abbas had told Reuters the two leaders had agreed to meet soon after both return from trips to Washington. Sharon heads to Washington on Sunday for talks with American Jewish leaders. But spokesmen for Sharon denied a meeting had been set. "The prime minister's bureau is interested in setting up such a meeting but no such meeting has been set for that date or any other date," David Baker, an official in Sharon's office, said. Another senior official in the office said the two had agreed to meet again after their Feb. 8 summit where they called a halt to four an a half years of fighting, but that no agreement for new talks had been reached.
