MIDDLE EAST: Palestinians urged Israel yesterday to expand a prisoner release scheme in order to ensure the success of a summit both sides hope will result in a formal declaration to end violence.
Israel disappointed the Palestinian leadership by refusing to include those jailed for deadly attacks among the 900 prisoners whom the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and top Cabinet ministers agreed on Thursday to release in a good will gesture.
But the summit itself, scheduled for Tuesday between Mr Sharon and new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh appeared set to go ahead.
"Israel stuck to its criteria of not releasing those it described as having 'blood on their hands'," Palestinian negotiator Mr Saeb Erekat said after talks with Israeli officials on the issue broke up without agreement late on Thursday.
"That means that all the prisoners who were jailed before [interim peace deals in] 1993 will not be released," he said.
Freedom for some 8,000 prisoners, especially Islamic militants and veteran inmates, is key to Mr Abbas's aim of consolidating power, ending bloodshed and reviving the US-backed peace "road map" charting mutual steps to Palestinian statehood.
The peace plan calls on the Palestinian Authority to disarm militants and dismantle a "terrorist infrastructure".
Mr Abbas has said he wants to co-opt rather than confront the gunmen, hoping to avoid civil strife.
Israel would not carry out any steps in the road map, Mr Sharon's office quoted the Israeli Prime Minister as saying, until "the Palestinians stop terror attacks, dismantle the [ militant] infrastructures and carry out government reforms".
Violence has dropped sharply amid Mr Abbas's efforts to coax militants into a truce they say must be reciprocated by the Israeli army.
He has also deployed Palestinian security forces in Gaza to combat militants.
Mr Sharon said that despite such moves, Mr Abbas has still not done enough to stop anti-Israeli attacks.
"Israel will assist Abu Mazen but does not agree that the safety of Israelis would be compromised as a result," he said, referring to Mr Abbas's nickname.
Israel and the Palestinians have said they hoped to declare a formal halt to more than four years of violence at the summit, a dramatic return to top-level contacts after the death on November 11th of Yasser Arafat, seen by Israel as an obstacle to peace.
The prisoners issue could loom large in meetings new US Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to hold with Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas during a visit to the region next week.
Israeli officials said a first batch of 500 prisoners would be freed next week, after the summit, with 400 to follow over a period of three months.
Israel's plan also calls for a troop withdrawal from five West Bank cities, starting in Jericho next week, after the talks.
Dr Rice, in London, said efforts to achieve Middle East peace were now "moving effectively".