Israel to free 400 Palestinians

Israel's Cabinet yesterday approved the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called a bid to bolster moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a Gaza pull-out.

But the Palestinian Authority said Israel had failed to coordinate the release with it and would leave behind bars prisoners the Palestinian public most wanted to see free.

Israel freed 500 prisoners on February 21 after Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon announced a ceasefire at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Mr Sharon later suspended the promised release of 400 more, citing Palestinian inaction in disarming militants.

"Israel has complaints about the Palestinians, even very serious complaints, relating to the implementation of the Sharm el-Sheikh understandings," Mr Sharon told the Cabinet, which voted 18-3 in favour of the release.

"But even those who believe the events of the coming months could strengthen extremist terrorist forces, must understand the need to bolster the main, moderate element of the Palestinian Authority and carry out what we promised," he said.

Mr Sharon was referring to Israel's planned evacuation in August of all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank and fears among opponents of the move that anti-Israeli militants would claim the pull-out as a victory.

The prisoners issue is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their 8,000 brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters for freedom from occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.

At the Cabinet session, Mr Sharon told ministers that none of those slated for release "had blood on his hands", a reference to participation in attacks that caused Israeli casualties, a government official said.

"This step of releasing 400 Palestinians is considered not to have met the Palestinian conditions and does not fit Palestinian needs," Sofian Abu Zaydeh, Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, later told a news conference in Gaza.

"Our priority is to start to release those who were arrested before (interim peace deals in) 1994 - teenagers, women, the sick and old people, and political leaders. Those are our priorities."

Mr Abu Zaydeh accused Israel of following a double standard. "According to their logic, a Palestinian prisoner who killed an Israeli 27 years ago or five years or one year ago must stay in jail, while an Israeli soldier who took a decision that led to Palestinian children being killed doesn't even have to go to court. This will not lead to peace," he said.

Mr Sharon said in a speech to a a pro-Israeli lobbying group in Washington last Tuesday he intended to ask his Cabinet at its next session to approve the release.

The announcement was widely seen in Israel as an attempt to head off complaints by Mr Abbas, at White House talks he held last Thursday with US President George W. Bush, that Mr Sharon was hindering his efforts to promote peace.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat urged Israel convene an Israeli-Palestinian committee on prisoners and agree jointly on which 400 would go free.

The Israeli government official said the committee had met recently and set general criteria on eligibility for release. He said there were no plans for another session before the prisoners leave jail, probably on Wednesday or Thursday.