Sharon and Abbas hold peace meeting

The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers held a two-hour meeting today, kicking off 10 days of international diplomacy aimed at strengthening a fragile Middle East cease-fire and advancing the US-backed “road map” peace plan.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas left Israeli premier Ariel Sharon’s Jerusalem residence after a meeting expected to focus on the release of Palestinian prisoners, which Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan said was at the top of the agenda for the Palestinians.

The two sides made no immediate statement after the meeting, the first between Sharon and Abbas since July 1.

Israel has indicated it may partly back off its previous refusal to free any members of the two Islamic militant groups that have waged a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis.

“I think it is possible to free people from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with the obvious provision that they don’t have blood on their hands,” said Cabinet minister Gideon Ezra, using a phrase for direct involvement in deadly attacks.

On June 29 the two groups declared a three-month halt to attacks on Israelis, and were joined by Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, which declared a six-month moratorium. But although violence that has killed more than 3,000 people since September 2000 is markedly down, other progress has been slowed by disagreements.

Implementing the road map – a blueprint for ending three years of violence and establishing a Palestinian state by 2005 – will be the focus of twin summits in Washington, with President George W Bush meeting Palestinian premier Mahmoud Abbas on July 25 and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon four days later.

Under the road map Israel pulled out of parts of Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem, but refuses to hand over more land unless the Palestinians disarm militant groups – a move that is required by the plan but which Palestinians fear could spark civil war and militants warn would nullify the truce with Israel.

At today’s summit, Abbas was expected to ask Israel to release many more prisoners than the several hundred it offered to free two weeks ago. The International Committee of the Red Cross says Israel holds some 7,700 prisoners, most of them militants accused of links to terrorism.

In a telephone interview, Dahlan, who will participate in the Sharon-Abbas summit, said prisoner release was “at the top of our agenda right now” and that Israel must free many more.

“Until now they’re talking about only 400 prisoners. The Israelis right now can release 3,000 Palestinian prisoners without any serious security issues,” he said.

The issue is potentially explosive. Some 1,500 people demonstrated in Gaza City today, calling for the release of all Palestinians held by Israel.

Islamic Jihad spokesman Mohammed al-Hindi warned there would be “no peace and security” unless all the prisoners were freed.

“The world should know that the issue of the prisoners is a key issue for all the Palestinians, and all the prisoners should be free without any condition,” he said.

Abbas is also expected to press Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to pull troops out of other West Bank towns and to dismantle the scores of illegal Jewish settlement outposts – both steps also stipulated in the road map.

Sharon, who last met Abbas on July 1, is expected to repeat Israel’s demand for a crackdown on the militants as a precondition for any further progress.

Dahlan’s office issued a statement yesterday saying the government had already started “a large-scale campaign” to bring law and order to the Gaza Strip, giving no specifics.

Today’s meeting takes place a day after Palestinian militants kidnapped, beat and briefly detained the governor of the West Bank town of Jenin, illustrating the challenge Abbas faces in restoring order.

The militants accused governor Haider Irsheid of “collaboration” with Israel and freed him only after the intervention of Arafat.

Israel and the United States – which accuse Arafat of fomenting terrorism and have been boycotting him – accept Abbas. But his credibility with Palestinians rests on his ability to win concessions from Sharon, especially on the prisoners.

Israel has argued that it cannot release large numbers of militants until the dismantling of armed groups that would otherwise benefit from the fresh manpower.

“We can’t release people if we think they’re going to return to their (terrorist) activities as they have done in the past,” said Ezra, a former top official of the Shin Bet security service.

Abbas and Sharon have met only once since the truce was declared. Abbas called off a meeting set for July 9 amid a conflict with Arafat over who should lead negotiations with Israel. The dispute ended in compromise, with Arafat appearing to retain a considerable degree of indirect control.

The degree of authority Arafat still wields was evident in the outcome of the kidnapping in Jenin. Zakariye Zubeydi, a top militant in the town, demanded Irsheid be tried for collaborating with Israel, but freed him hours after a call from an unidentified official at Arafat’s office.

The kidnapping followed months of tensions between the governor and militants in Jenin, whose lawless refugee camp is a stronghold of militant gunmen.

There is practically no Palestinian police presence in Jenin or the adjacent refugee camp. Israel has effectively controlled Jenin and most other West Bank towns for more than a year as part of efforts to end suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis, but its troops generally stay on the outskirts of town.

Later Saturday, the militant Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said Palestinian police arrested two of its members in the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian Authority’s control is stronger than in the West Bank. No further details were available.