In a goodwill gesture on Monday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli cabinet formally authorized the release of 441 Palestinian prisoners ahead of a round of U.S.-hosted Mideast peace talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said freeing the prisoners was meant to bolster support for Abbas's moderate Fatah faction in its bitter rivalry with Hamas.

All 441 of the Palestinian prisoners were members of Fatah "without blood on their hands," a government official told the Reuters news agency. The official added the prisoners could go free as early as Friday.

Originally, Abbas had wanted 2,000 of the prisoners released.

The news of Israel's approval of the release comes days before Olmert and Abbas are to meet for talks at a U.S. summit in Annapolis, Md., this month. Olmert has reportedly been under pressure in the lead-up to the high-profile conference to begin making some goodwill gestures.

On Monday, Olmert also told his cabinet that Israel would cease construction of new settlements in the West Bank and pledged to remove unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank.

Olmert did not give a timeline for the pledges regarding the settlements, however, and he has made similar promises in the past.

Palestinians react coolly to statement

Freezing the construction of settlements and dismantling outposts are key concessions sought in the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan that stalled shortly after its inception four years ago.

The U.S. has also demanded that Israel stop building in existing communities, but Olmert has not indicated he would go that far.  

Palestinian officials reacted coolly to Olmert's statement, with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat saying Olmert's promise of action still falls short because it does not include a commitment to stop construction in existing settlements. Israeli leaders have said building in those settlements would account for "natural growth."

Erekat said Olmert omitted "the Israeli obligation" in the road map that "the Israeli government must freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth."

"Either it's a 100 per cent settlement freeze or no settlement freeze. There is nothing in the middle," Erekat told the Associated Press.

At the upcoming summit, Israel and the Palestinians hope to relaunch formal peace talks that broke down in violence seven years ago.

Abbas urges Israel to carry out obligations

The road map is a staged peace plan that calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Its first phase calls on Israel to freeze all settlement construction and remove dozens of unauthorized settlement outposts built since 2001 — steps that were never taken. The plan also requires the Palestinians to crack down on militants.

Abbas said he has begun carrying out his obligations and wants Israel to do the same.

Some 270,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in addition to roughly 180,000 Jews living in east Jerusalem.

The Palestinians claim both areas, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, for part of their future state.   

Israel has built no new authorized settlements in nearly a decade.

Olmert has signalled he is ready to relinquish large areas of the West Bank and parts of east Jerusalem. But he also hopes to retain large settlement blocs in the West Bank and key areas in east Jerusalem, including Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites.

 

With files from the Associated Press