Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's political future depends on a visit to Washington this week where he will seek American pressure on Israel to release prisoners and move forward with peace moves.
The prisoner release is vital to Abbas's standing among Palestinians and will be one of the main issues he raises with US President George W. Bush in Washington on Friday.
The Palestinian Information Minister, Nabil Amr, said "If no progress is made in this important visit to Washington, we are sure that Abbas will face a tough situation among the Palestinian people and in the Palestinian Legislative Council," Amr said.
"Some lawmakers are demanding that there be a confidencevote on the cabinet after the Washington visit," he added.
If Israel fails to release the estimated 6,000 prisoners held in its jails, the fragile ceasefire called on June 29 that halted attacks on Israelis would be jeopardised.
Israel says it will not release Palestinians whoparticipated in the killing of Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed earlier this week in a meeting with Abbas to free hundreds of prisoners.
But a ministerial committee held today, afterexamining a list of potential prisoners to be released, Sharon decided that the cabinet had to formally approve the release of Islamic militants before they could be freed.
The cabinet meets next on Sunday.
Hisham Abdel-Raziq, the Palestinian minister on prisoners, said the committee's decision could compromise the US-backed "road map" to peace that envisages a Palestinian state by 2005.
"This will harm the political process and lead us to a real political crisis," said Abdel-Raziq. He called a meeting held on the prisoner issue held yesterday "a failure" after Israel refused to allow Palestinians a say on who would be freed.
The release is planned to take place later this month.
Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, a Hamas leader, said that "even if one prisoner remains behind bars this means a violation to the truce." He said that "if Israel does not release all prisoners, it will be responsible for what will happen."
Israel has called on Abbas to crack down on Hamas and other militant groups before it moves ahead with further troop withdrawals in the West Bank. Palestinian officials have said such a crackdown could lead to civil war.
Palestinians also seek an Israeli freeze on construction in settlements built on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and further dismantling of unauthorised outposts.
A poll taken for the settlement monitoring group Peace Now said that a majority of the 200,000 Jewish settlers would leave their homes for peace if proper compensation was offered.