Sharon "can't offer anything... What he is saying (will) escalate the situation and war between Pakistan and India," Arafat said in an interview with the Hindu newspaper published Sunday.

Sharon's visit, beginning on September 9, will be the first by an Israeli head of government since the two countries established full-fledged diplomatic relations in 1992.

It is expected to be dominated by talks on the war on terror, while New Delhi will seek Israel's assistance in controlling infiltration along its border.

India, which recognized Israel soon after the Jewish state's creation in 1948, has traditionally been close to Arafat.

But after establishing diplomatic relations with Israel amid a then-flourishing Middle East process, they have built up defence cooperation and exchanged visits at the level of foreign minister.

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have just begun a cautious thawing of frigid relations, after coming to the brink of war last year.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested last year that India should deploy sensors to track the movement of infiltrators from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Indian-Kashmir -- the main bone of contention between the nuclear rivals.

India accuses Pakistan of training, funding, arming and infiltrating Islamic militants into Indian-Kashmir to sustain an Islamic insurgency against New Delhi in the Himalayan region.

Islamabad denies the charge but admits to extending moral, political and diplomatic support to, what it calls, the Kashmiri freedom movement.

Offers for the sale of sensors came from the United States and Israel and reports said New Delhi is seriously considering the proposals.

According to Arafat, New Delhi's close relations with Israel were possible due to a peace agreement he signed with the then Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993.

"But we hope that this visit will be a pressure for him (Sharon) to make real peace with your brothers, the Palestinians," he said.

The Palestinian leader also denied reports of differences between him and Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas.

"No. There was tension between him and some of our colleagues. But we have succeeded in solving it," he said.

Arafat said he hoped the brittle peace in the region, which has seen a temporary ceasefire by armed Palestinian groups and an Israeli withdrawal from certain areas of the Gaza Strip, would last.

"It will lead to peace if the Israelis are committed to implementing accurately the roadmap," which paves the way for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, calls on Palestinians to crack down on radical militants and urges Israel to freeze Jewish settlement activity.