Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed on Tuesday the importance of ending the dispute over controlling the border crossing points between Gaza Strip and Egypt as early as possible amidst the Israeli self-imposed blockade on the strip.

The issue is being thoroughly discussed by the Palestinian, the Egyptian and the Israeli leaders, Abbas said in a press release after his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The issue will be further discussed next week with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and later with the Israeli side, he disclosed.

The Palestinian President called for steps to end Israeli siege on Gaza, reiterating his call for the Palestinian armed groups in Gaza Strip to stop launching rockets to prepare the ground for lifting the siege.

"An immediate stop of launching the rockets into Israel will deny the Israelis the pretext of attacking Gaza Strip and starve the Gazans," Abbas said.

The Palestinian President calling for the reopening of Rafah crossing on Gaza-Egypt borders in line with the 2005 agreement.

The agreement stipulates the presence of European Union (EU) monitors as a third party on the border passage but rules out any Hamas involvement in the management of the crossing, Abbas added. (Pickup previous) sm.rg.mb.