"I want and intend to hold a dialogue with Abu Mazen," Olmert told reporters in Jerusalem, calling Abbas by his widely-used monicker.

"We have no problem that is more urgent than the Palestinian problem," the premier said.

Olmert and Abbas last met on June 22 in Jordan, in an informal meeting over breakfast hosted by King Abdullah II in Petra.

The Israeli government cut all contacts with the Palestinian Authority headed by Abbas on April 11, after the Islamist Hamas movement formed a government following its upset election victory in January.

Israel, along with the European Union and the United States, considers Hamas a terrorist organisation.

Hamas has killed scores of Israelis in suicide bombings over the years, but its armed wing has not claimed responsibility for any such attacks inside the Jewish state since January 2005.