Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced today that he will hold a summit meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on June 21. Among the items on the agenda, according to statement from Sharon's office, are the continuation of the fragile cease fire and the coordination of the pullout from the Gaza Strip which Israel has scheduled for mid-August.

Abbas and Sharon last met on February 8 at the resort town of Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt where they negotiated the present cease fire. The calm has been endangered primarily by the actions of Palestinian militant groups like Hamas which have continued to fire rockets and mortars at Israeli settlements and into Israel itself.

Both the PA and Israel have feared chaos may ensue in the Gaza Strip after the unilateral Israeli withdrawal. It is hoped that coordinating the Israeli pullback and the PA takeover will minimize such problems.

Abbas is certain to raise the issue of the hand over of additional West Bank cities to PA control. That was agreed upon by the two leaders at the February 8 summit but only two of the five towns agreed to were ever turned over because the Israelis claim the PA has not done enough to reign in militant groups and prevent them from carrying out terrorist attacks.

Israel recently announced it would release an additional 400 Palestinian prisoners which would reach the 900 agreed to prior to the Sharm el-Sheik summit. Prisoner release is an important issue to the Palestinians and Abbas will ask for the release of more prisoners from Israeli jails.

The announcement of a summit at least means that both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority remain committed to continuing negotiations despite difficulties with the present ceasefire arrangements.