http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/906172.html
Last update - 12:03 23/09/2007
Cabinet okays release of 90 Palestinian prisoners
By Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff, Ofer Aderet and Aluf Benn, Haaretz
Correspondents
The cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners as
a goodwill gesture for the holiday of Eid el-Fitr, which marks the end of the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The prisoners slated to be released are members of the Palestinian
factions Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and
the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and are all
considered without "blood on their hands" - meaning they were not directly
involved in the killing of Israelis.
The original list contained 100 names, but 10 prisoners were removed
after it emerged that they did not fulfill all the criteria. The updated list
of 90 names will be brought before the cabinet subcommittee for the release of
prisoners later Sunday for individual approval. After it is approved, the list
will be published, and the public will be given 48 hours to appeal.
Sixteen cabinet ministers voted in favor of the release, while six voted
against. Shaul Mofaz (Kadima), Yitzhak Aharonovich (Yisrael Beiteinu) and four
members of Shas voted against the prisoner release. Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman
Avigdor Lieberman abstained.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday at a Kadima ministers' meeting
that the release of Palestinian prisoners is a gesture that Israel extends to
the Palestinians every year at Ramadan.
"The criteria are the same [each year], and the release will not harm
efforts to secure the release of [abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier] Gilad
Shalit, because the prisoners are also included on Hamas' list," Olmert said,
referring to a list of prisoners that Hamas, who is holding Shalit, seeks to
exchange for the captive soldier.
U.S. expected to invite Lebanon and Syria to peace conference
The U.S. will accede to the Palestinian Authority's demand that it invite
Syria and Lebanon to the November regional peace conference in Washington,
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' political advisor has told
Haaretz.
Nimer Hamad also said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged
during a meeting with Abbas on Thursday that the U.S. would invite the
monitoring committee of the Arab League to the peace conference. Hamad said
that this includes representatives from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria
and Egypt, and that members of the Middle East Quartet and the G-8 would also
take part.
Hamad added that talks were underway between the Israeli and Palestinian
negotiating teams ahead of their first official meetings. The Palestinian team
includes former PA prime minister Ahmad Qureia, the chief Palestinian
negotiator Saeb Erekat, and the head of the PA Executive Committee, Yasser Abed
Rabo.
On October 1, Olmert and Abbas will hold another meeting, during which
each side's negotiating teams will join them for the first time.
According to Palestinian sources, Saudi Arabia is also pressuring the
U.S. to include Syria and Lebanon in the conference. The sources say the Saudis
want as many Arab countries as possible to participate at the conference to
give its own role Arab legitimacy. Despite Riyadh's pressure, Lebanon is not
likely to send a representative to the conference unless Syria does, and
therefore the Saudis want the U.S. to invite Syria as well.
However, it is still unclear whether the Saudis themselves intend to
participate. Saudi Arabia is said to be examining the possibility of
participating as observers only, as it did in Madrid in 1991.
A senior government source in Jerusalem has told Haaretz that Rice
understands that conditions are not yet ripe to bring a detailed agreement on
the conflict's core issues to the regional conference.
In her recent talks in Israel, Rice heard from all sides that there is no
chance of reaching a framework agreement on the core issues because of the
major gaps between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Therefore, the two sides
plan work toward a document reflecting the issues on which there is agreement,
which would be presented at the November conference as a joint
Israeli-Palestinian declaration.
The source said Israel was working toward a joint statement that would be
as general as possible "so the conference will mark the jump-starting of a
process and not the end of it."
Rice told reporters accompanying her on her plane on Thursday after
taking off from Israel that she was optimistic regarding the chances of an
Israeli-Palestinian joint document ahead of the summit. She also said that the
document would not include a timetable and that she had not managed to bridge
the gaps during her visit. However, she did say that the document would relate
to the core issues on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni left Saturday for New York to take part in
the opening of the UN General Assembly. She is expected to meet with UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad,
with Abbas and with a number of her counterparts, including some from the Arab
and Muslim world, who do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Joining Livni on her New York visit will be the families of Israel's
kidnapped soldiers, who will also take part in some of the diplomatic meetings.
Livni will also attend closed meetings with Rice, and will apparently meet with
President George W. Bush. In addition to discussing the preparations for the
regional conference, Livni is expected to focus in her talks on the matter of
Iran's nuclear program and ratcheting up sanctions on Tehran.
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