Ramallah (West Bank): Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his premier Mahmud Abbas met on July 15 in a bid to narrow their differences over the handling of peace talks with Israel, even as Britain resisted Israeli pressure to abandon the veteran Palestinian leader.

After extensive efforts by mediators to bring the two men together, Mahmud Abbas arrived at Arafat's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to sources.

"It looks they will settle their differences," the source said.

It was the first meeting between the two of them since Abbas offered to resign from the central committee of Arafat's Fatah movement last week.

The offer came after Abbas faced charges from fellow Palestinian leaders of being too soft in peace talks with Israel, especially on the issue of Palestinian prisoner releases.

Sharon has accused Arafat of trying to undermine Abbas, who offered to resign last week from the central committee of Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement.

However, Sharon's campaign to persuade foreign governments to sever links with Arafat suffered a blow on July 15 when Britain made clear it would maintain contacts.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw stressed during talks with Sharon that Britain would continue to deal with Arafat.

Agencies