Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas more "goodwill gestures" despite the Kadima elections that will determine his replacement as party leader and head of the government, PA sources said Wednesday. He apparently has backtracked on his stated promise to quit the day after the elections.

One of the gestures he promised Abbas at a meeting on the eve of the leadership elections is the release of more Arab terrorists.

One of the gestures he promised Abbas at a meeting on the eve of the leadership elections is the release of more Arab terrorists.

Prime Minister Olmert had promised to resign after a new leader is chosen, but he can remain in power for several weeks while his replacement tries to form a new government, which is not a certainty. If the new party leader is unable to form a government, President Shimon Peres will ask another party leader to carry out the task or order new elections.

Prime Minister Olmert's reported promise of more compromises and concessions to the PA may be challenged by opposition parties, who can ask Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to rule that he has no right to make policy decisions while he is a "lame duck" prime minister.

Mazuz recently denied a petition that he declare the government to be in "transition" and to limit Olmert's flexibility. If one of the four candidates wins Wednesday's election on the first round with at least 40 percent plurality, the Olmert administration will legally be one that is temporary.

Sources quoted by Chinese news agency Xinhua also stated that Abbas asked Prime Minister Olmert to offer more facilities to Arabs at the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, to take down more checkpoints and roadblocks and to free Marwan Barghouti. The Tanzim terrorist head is serving five life terms in prison for planning deadly terrorist attacks that resulted in the murders of numerous people. Prime Minister Olmert replied he would free him by the end of the month, Xinhua reported.

Prime Minister Olmert already has granted permission to the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount to repair and restore verses from the Koran that were carved into several Muslim buildings on the Temple Mount, according to WorldNetDaily reporter Aaron Klein.

Special tools and machinery for repairing the verses have been stored in Ashdod for three years, Klein reported.