Israel promises to release 900 Palestinian prisoners

Israel promises to release 900 Palestinian prisoners

Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem
Friday February 4, 2005

The Israeli government agreed yesterday to release about 900 Palestinian prisoners and hand control of Jericho to the Palestinian security forces, the first of a series of confidence-building measures before the two prime ministers, Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, meet next week.

A cabinet statement said the government was responding to Mr Abbas's success in reducing attacks on Israeli targets. Ministers had also agreed to suspend the assassination of men wanted by Israel and would set up a joint committee with Palestinians to decide how to deal with them.

Mr Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, will meet Mr Sharon in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh together with King Abdullah of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, on Tuesday.

The first 500 prisoners will be released within a week, and the rest in three months. There are an estimated 8,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails.

But a problem emerged last night about who would be set free. Israel plans to release only those held for minor security offences and has balked at Palestinian demands for at least some held for attacks on Israelis to be released as well.

In Jericho, Israeli troops will continue to control the town from outside but armed Palestinian police will be allowed to patrol inside.

The Palestinians had hoped to be given control of five big towns in the West Bank.

Mr Abbas said he had won the agreement of militants to halt attacks and he expected Israel to respond positively. "We have announced a ceasefire, and the Israelis should announce one also," he said.

Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister, said he hoped for "an official declaration of an armistice, on the cessation of all acts of violence".

But the Israeli government is unlikely to agree to a formal ceasefire while militants still hold weapons.

Mr Sharon told his ministers that Israeli-Palestinian relations were still at an early stage of development. "We are not talking about peace now, and not about the road map, but rather about phases that come before implementation of the road map."

Despite its positive gestures, Israel wants Mr Abbas to do much more to prevent violence. Silvan Shalom, its foreign minister, told the Israeli-British chamber of commerce on Wednesday that Mr Abbas's ceasefire was "not enough", and that Israel required him to neutralise militant groups before negotiations began.

"A ceasefire is not the answer," he said. "It is an optical illusion, which will explode in our faces ... To prevent the terrorists from undermining the dialogue between the two sides, we must remove them completely from the equation, and dismantle their ability to strike."

The militant groups have agreed to stop attacking Israel, to give Mr Abbas room to negotiate.

But most have little faith that Israel will deliver meaningful Palestinian independence and have no intention of giving away their weapons.

Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian minister responsible for negotiations, said the summit would be a success "if we can announce in Sharm el-Sheikh a mutual cessation of violence".

Israel had to release a "significant and genuine" number of Palestinian prisoners and address the issues of settlement expansion and the West Bank barrier, he added.

· Two militant attacks - one in the Gaza Strip and one in the West Bank - wounded six Israeli soldiers, the first casualties suffered by the Israeli forces in recent weeks.

The soldiers in the Gaza Strip returned fire and killed their assailant.


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