Palestinian prisoners call for release of kidnapped Israeli

Palestinian prisoners in Israel have called for the release of an Israeli taxi driver feared kidnapped by militants, a gesture that could help shore up fragile peace moves.

Two weeks of relative quiet have brought hopes that the 33-month Palestinian uprising may be winding down, but efforts to implement the US backed road map to peace and Palestinian statehood by 2005 are mired in disagreements.

In London, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was expected to urge Tony Blair to sever ties with Yasser Arafat.

Israel accuses Arafat of fomenting terrorism and impeding the efforts of his moderate premier, Mahmoud Abbas, to end the violence.

“Arafat should be removed from any position of influence,” Sharon told US TV, blaming the Palestinian leader for the nearly three years of Mideast bloodshed.

Violence has decreased markedly since the main Palestinian militant groups declared a unilateral ceasefire on June 29, and Israel scaled back military action.

But the militants warn the truce will collapse if Israel does not release 7,000 Palestinian prisonersIsrael has agreed to free only several hundred.

Israel officials have suggested that they are looking for ways to ease the prisoner crisis, and the statement by the prisoners was viewed as a gesture of good faith.

Orit Messer-Harel, spokeswoman for Israel’s prison service, said the statement was released by prisoner representative committees at the Ashkelon and Shatah prisons, which together contain hundreds of Palestinian inmates.

“We allowed the dissemination of this call because it helps peace,” she said.

The statement calls for the release of 61-year-old Eliyahu Goral, whose cab was found abandoned and idling in an Arab section of Jerusalem on Friday.

No one has claimed responsibility for abducting Goral. Israeli officials fear he was kidnapped by militants hoping for a prisoner exchange. Palestinian security forces are helping Israeli troops search for the man.

Israeli soldiers today imposed a curfew in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which has been at the centre of the search for Goral.

Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs Hisham Abdal Raziq said the statement “confirms the prisoners’ belief that such actions only hurt the issue of releasing prisoners,” and also “confirms the firm commitment that prisoners have to abiding by the ceasefire agreement.”