Israel to release Palestinian militants
Israel’s Cabinet voted today to release up to 100 Islamic militants as a goodwill gesture ahead of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s trip to Washington this week.
Ministers voted 14-9 to authorise the release, reversing the government’s opposition to freeing members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Government spokesman Avi Pazner said the vote was intended to bolster Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who has been criticised by Palestinians for failing to get concessions from Israel during negotiations on the US-backed “road map” peace plan.
“Abu Mazen is our partner in the road map,” Pazner said, referring to Abbas by his nickname.
“We wanted to show our goodwill and so we agreed to the release. But we still stand firm in our refusal to release those who actively took part in terror attacks or kidnappings or murder.”
The prisoner issue is key to reinvigorating stalled peace moves.
The Palestinians want Israel to release most of the estimated 7,700 Palestinian prisoners it holds.
Israel has agreed to free a few hundred, but had previously said these would not include members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Sharon hopes releasing dozens of inmates who are members of those groups will help ease pressure on him, and show Israel is committed to the peace plan.
Sharon is due to leave for the United States later today and is scheduled to meet US President George W Bush on Tuesday.
On Friday – as Bush was meeting with Abbas at the White House – Israel announced several other steps that seem designed to demonstrate it is sincere about the road map, which aims to end almost three years of violence and establish a Palestinian state by 2005.
They include plans to pull troops out of two more Palestinian cities and dismantle three roadblocks in the West Bank. The first two roadblocks, both near Ramallah, were removed by Israeli army bulldozers on Sunday.
Abbas urged the United States to press Israel for more concessions, including freezing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – a stipulation of the road map that Israel has not carried out – and the dismantling of a security barrier being built near Israel’s dividing line with the West Bank.
After the meeting, Bush expressed strong support for Abbas and said he would bring up Palestinian demands with Sharon. Bush criticised Israel’s security barrier – which in places will veer deep into the West Bank to bring Jewish settlements onto the “Israeli” side – and said settlements must end.
But Bush also said terrorism must be rooted out, an apparent nod to Sharon’s demand that the Palestinians move to disarm the militant groups. The road map says the Palestinians must dismantle “the infrastructure” of the groups. Abbas refuses to do that by force, preferring persuasion.
Abbas’ trip was the first by a Palestinian leader to the Bush White House. Sharon’s will be his eighth since taking office in March 2001, and he hopes to shore up American sympathy for Israel’s security concerns.
