Putin, in an interview with Israel public television, confirmed Moscow would push ahead with the missile sale to Damascus, despite Israeli fears that the system could fall into the hands of "terrorist organisations".

"With respect to the sale which was signed with Syria and which will be finalised, it involves short-range air defence systems ... (which) can destroy air targets at close range," Putin said.

"They are systems that are mounted on vehicles and they cannot be secretly passed on to terrorist organisations," he added, saying Russian military officials would be able to carry out checks on the missile sites.

Putin, who is due to arrive in Israel on Wednesday, stressed that Russia was acting responsibly and that the sale would not change the balance of power in the region.

Israeli officials refused to comment on the interview, which was broadcast a day after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated his belief the sale of the system was a "threat to the security of Israel".

The Russian leader will hold two days of top-level talks with Sharon and other senior Israeli officials before heading to the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 29 to meet Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

On Thursday, a senior Israeli official told AFP that Sharon would press the Russian leader not to go through with the sale.

"There is no doubt that Sharon will push Putin to stop the sale of weapons to Syria," he said. "We are completely against the sale of any weapons to Syria."

Asked about Sharon's chances of persuading the Russian president, he said Israel would continue its efforts until the last minute. "It's not over yet -- the sale still hasn't gone through," he said.

But he stressed there was "no crisis" between Israel and Russia, saying the issue would not overshadow the summit, or have any impact on the strong economic, trade and cultural ties between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Israel sealed off the West Bank and stepped up security measures Friday, a day before the start of the week-long Jewish festival of Passover.

Ahead of the holiday, which marks the Jewish exodus from Egypt, Abbas telephoned both Sharon and Israeli President Moshe Katsav to wish them happy Passover, said the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Sharon's office confirmed the call, saying the two "agreed to meet in the near future to press ahead with the various issues that are on the agenda".

Amid the countdown to Israel's evacuation of all troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, an opinion poll showed that almost two-thirds of 245,000 settlers living across the occupied territories would not resist the evacuation.

Sixty-four percent of respondents said they would not resist, compared with 33 percent who confirmed they would, while only four percent said they would resort to force.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian civil affairs minister Mohammed Dahlan announced they had set up joint committees to coordinate the withdrawal at a meeting Thursday.

The announcement came the day after the defence establishment recommended that the start-date of the four-week withdrawal -- originally planned for late July -- be delayed until August 15, in a proposal likely to be accepted by Sharon.

Earlier this week, Sharon said he was in favour of a slight delay for reasons linked to the Jewish religious commemoration.

EU foreign ministers are to voice "concern" at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday about a lack of progress in the peace process and rebuke Israel for pressing ahead with expansion of West Bank settlements, according to a draft joint statement obtained by AFP in Brussels.

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