Israel will release more Palestinian Authority prisoners, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed Sunday to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The announcement came during the Paris conference of Mediterranean states, apparently as a goodwill gesture to the PA.
There was no discussion of identity and number of prisoners to be freed.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert, clarified that the prime minister "agreed in principle" to releasing terrorists as a "gesture" to Abbas.
The move came a day after the PA’s Minister for Prisoner Affairs published complaints about the PA not being included in the prisoner swap deals that Israel is currently concluding. Ashraf al-Ajami warned that the impending release by Israel of live Hizbullah terrorists in exchange for the bodies of dead IDF soldiers encourages PA Arabs to kidnap Israeli troops as well.
In a report on Israel Radio, Abbas himself claimed that Israel's release of Palestinian Authority bodies in the Hizbullah deal undermined his authority.
Speaking earlier on the Voice of Palestine radio station, P.A. negotiator Saeb Erekat said that most of the prisoners whose release Abbas is demanding were sentenced before the Oslo Accords. According to Erekat, Abbas expressed consternation at the recent IDF crackdown on Hamas-linked institutions in Judea and Samaria, and asked Olmert to reopen several institutions believed to fund Hamas operations in Shechem, including the P.A.’s only shopping mall.
Erekat said that Olmert and Abbas plan to meet again Sunday night in Paris.
Earlier Sunday, during a meeting with Abbas and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Paris conference, Olmert proclaimed that Israel and the P.A. have "never been as close" to a peace deal than now.
Olmert added the time is approaching for the Israelis and P.A. Arabs to make critical decisions, assuring Abbas that while he hopes to initiate direct talks with Syria “soon”, an Israel-P.A. peace accord is at the top of his agenda.