At Summit in Egypt, Israeli Leader Pledges to Seek Release of 250 Palestinian Prisoners

Olmert Makes 'Gesture Of Goodwill'

Taken from The Washington Post, June 26 2007; A14
By Ellen Knickmeyer

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Monday to seek the release of 250 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in response to calls from Arab leaders that he take steps to shore up the emergency government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian officials spoke positively of Olmert's announcement but said he had failed to give timelines or other specifics. Olmert renewed promises to ease Israeli restrictions on West Bank residents and reestablish Israeli-Palestinian discussions toward Palestinian statehood.

"We need to see how they will implement the promises on the ground," said Nabil Amr, a spokesman for Abbas, after a summit in this Egyptian resort that featured closed-door bilateral talks among the four leaders attending. "Two-hundred-and fifty prisoners is a good step, but if that's the best he can offer it's not even legitimate."

The meeting brought Abbas and Olmert together with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab states that have signed peace treaties with Israel.

Abbas said the sense of urgency created by Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip this month should be funneled into reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The two sides last negotiated in earnest in 2001.

"Today we have an opportunity to fulfill our dream of coexistence," said Jordan's King Abdullah II. "The only alternative will be more years wasted in negotiations and losses."

The Jordanian king spoke in an open session during which the four leaders read statements into the television cameras, sitting around a massive square table that kept each leader yards apart from his counterparts.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak convened the summit to explore resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, bolstering Abbas's West Bank administration and containing Hamas in Gaza.

In mid-June, Hamas forces routed fighters loyal to Abbas's Fatah movement in Gaza, prompting Abbas to dissolve a Fatah-Hamas government and declare a new administration whose authority appears limited to the West Bank. Hamas, which has proposed reconciliation talks but has been rebuffed by Fatah leaders, says its government is still legitimate.

Olmert's announcement regarding 250 of the roughly 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli custody represented the only new Israeli move Monday.

"As a gesture of goodwill towards the Palestinians, I will bring before the Israeli cabinet a proposal to free 250 Fatah prisoners who do not have blood on their hands, after they sign a commitment not to return to violence," Olmert said.

Referring to an Israeli soldier captured a year ago by Hamas-affiliated groups, Olmert said: "Abbas more than once made a commitment to me that he will act to secure the release of Gilad Shalit from the extremists who are holding him. I believe that his intentions in this matter are sincere, but he himself faces a wall of silence and cruelty by the Hamas and terrorist organizations."

The release likely would not meet conditions set by Shalit's captors, who seek the freedom of Hamas members held by Israel.

Arab leaders had gone to the summit urging that Israel ease checkpoints that impede the lives and work of Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel's security forces have blocked previous pledges by Israeli civilian leaders to reduce the checkpoints, saying they are essential to Israel's security. The United Nations says the number of checkpoints has increased more than 40 percent since Israel promised in 2005 to reduce the barriers.

Olmert noted that he and the Arab leaders likely would face criticism at home for taking part in Monday's summit. At its end, closed-circuit TV at the summit site showed Israeli and Arab leaders beaming at one another, with Olmert repeatedly resting a hand on Mubarak's back and Mubarak reaching out to touch the shoulder of the Israeli leader. Arab satellite channels did not show these cordial scenes.

Egypt and Jordan worry that Hamas's ascendance will encourage Islamic activism on their own soil. Mubarak's administration has arrested hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and changed the constitution to block the movement's political rise. The Islamic political movement shocked Egypt's government in 2005 by winning nearly a fifth of the seats in the lower house of parliament.

"Today in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit they are all afraid and trying to find a way out," said Essam el-Eryan, a leader of the Brotherhood, in a telephone interview after the summit. "King Abdullah is scared. Half his population is Palestinian -- what if free elections are held today in Jordan?"

Mubarak, whose military trained hundreds of Fatah fighters in recent months, "is afraid from the revelation of his ties with Fatah," Eryan said. "Who trained Fatah? Who allowed the U.S. funds and weapons leak to Fatah? Who spoiled the Mecca accords?" he asked, referring to a pact brokered by Saudi Arabia to try to hold together the Hamas-Fatah government.

Correspondent Scott Wilson in Jerusalem and special correspondent Nora Younis in Sharm el-Sheikh contributed to this report.
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The release of 250 prisoners "WITH NO BLOOD ON THIER HANDS" is a good start by Olmert. Lets hope he releases ALL PRISONERS that are kept in Isreali Jails for no good reason - This includes thousands of Lebanese prisoners who were abducted during the Israeli occupation of The Lebanon in 1982 that lasted a decade. A lot of innocent women and children are kept in overflowing Israeli prisons - action must be taken by international communities for thier immediate release, that is the only reasons political groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah exists and like the IRA in Northan Ireland will have no purpose when land and prisoners are returned back.