Prisoners key to Middle East ceasefire

Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs failed yesterday to advance the release of Palestinian prisoners, an issue which Islamic militants warned could topple a shaky ceasefire.

Palestinian Security Affairs Minister Mohammad Dahlan met Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz for two hours at the Erez checkpoint on the Israel-Gaza frontier.

A Palestinian official described the meeting as "short and serious" and said "Mofaz gave no answer" to Dahlan's demand for a broad release of prisoners.

Israel said the release of militants who have killed Israelis or who belong to Islamic groups could endanger the peace process rather than promote it, and Mofaz told Dahlan to disarm militant groups first, Israel radio reported.

The Islamic militant group Hamas has refused to disarm and warned a three-month truce declared under intense international pressure to further a US-backed "road map" to peace would unravel if Israel did not release all prisoners.

Mofaz said that the number of prisoners to be released was to be decided by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a committee of intelligence officials.

But Dahlan said earlier that it was Israel's failure to free sufficient prisoners that led Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to cancel a meeting with Sharon on Wednesday.

Palestinian officials said Israel still holds 8000 Palestinians, including minors, arrested since an uprising for independence began in September 2000.

Israel puts the figure at 5900 and says it has released more than 50 Palestinian prisoners since the latest truce. The prisoner issue is one of the most emotional.

Dahlan noted the cases of 460 prisoners in jail for many years, and said: "There's no justification anymore for those staying in jail."

The Palestinian minister earlier met two Egyptian envoys sent by President Hosni Mubarak to bolster the temporary ceasefire declared on June 29 by Palestinian militant groups. The mediators won the agreement of four militant factions to stick to the truce shaken by Israel's refusal to release prisoners, and end violence in the past week.

But during the meeting with Egyptian envoys, leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the mainstream Fatah movement hammered home a message that "the prisoner issue could blow up everything", one official said.

Palestinian officials have pressed for a broad release to boost the popularity of Abbas among ordinary Palestinians seeking a loosening of Israel's military grip on their lives.

- REUTERS