Sharon and Abbas plan summit, Israel to free prisoners

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced plans on Wednesday to hold a second summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on June 19, in an effort to boost deadlocked peace moves before a planned Gaza pullout.

The statement from Sharon's office came hours before Israel was to release 400 Palestinian prisoners. US President George W Bush has prodded both sides to revive contacts.

The two leaders last met on February 8 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where they called a halt to four and a half years of fighting in a deal that has drastically cut violence in the region.

But efforts to arrange a new summit had stumbled over Israel's complaints that Abbas has failed to disarm militants and Palestinian demands for Israel to pull troops away from more West Bank towns and to free more prisoners.

Aides to both leaders finally agreed to set a date for talks six days after Abbas won new US assurances in a May 26 meeting with Bush in Washington, who pledged to him US$50 million in aid and urged both sides to make peace moves.

"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas on June 21," a statement from Sharon's office said.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed he had agreed to the date in talks with Dov Weisglass, a Sharon aide.

Erekat said Abbas hoped to shore up the truce with Israel and to discuss using Israel's unilateral Gaza pullout in August as a springboard for new peace talks under a US-backed road map plan.

"On the agenda is sustaining the ceasefire," Erekat said. "We will exert every possible effort to ensure the summit is successful."

The fragility of the truce was highlighted anew on Wednesday when Israeli security officials said they had arrested a group of Islamic Jihad militants hours before they planned to carry out twin suicide bomb attacks in Jerusalem.

Israeli officials said Sharon would try to persuade Abbas to drop talks with Hamas, an Islamic group bent on Israel's destruction that has gained political influence through recent victories in local elections.

Neither side announced a venue for the summit. Both Israeli and Palestinian officials said it might be held in Jerusalem, a city claimed by both sides.

The announcement of the summit followed Israel's announcement that it would go ahead with the long-delayed release of 400 Palestinian prisoners on Thursday.

Israel freed 500 of a promised 900 inmates in February, then postponed further releases after a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv later that month.

Palestinian officials dismissed the planned release as a public relations stunt and said that Abbas, who succeeded Yasser Arafat on a platform of non-violence, needs more releases of prisoners to preserve a shaky ceasefire deal with militants.

"If this step was aimed at strengthening President Mahmoud Abbas, then it is not enough," said Sofian Abu Zaydeh, Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs.

Many Palestinians see the roughly 8000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails as heroes fighting occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

None of the prisoners scheduled for release had been convicted of attacks that killed or injured Israelis, officials said. Many were in jail for belonging to militant groups, possessing weapons or plotting attacks.

Israel's high court rejected an appeal seeking to block the release before it takes place, brought by a group of Israelis who were harmed or had relatives killed in attacks by Palestinian militants.

- REUTERS