World

Israel To Release 900 Prisoners

February 7, 2005 / 7:06 AM EST / CBS/AP

Israeli Cabinet ministers on Thursday approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners and a withdrawal from the West Bank town of Jericho, officials said, in a pair of gestures ahead of a regional summit next week.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security Cabinet, a senior group of ministers, approved the measures during a four-hour meeting.

In other developments:

Israel will construct a two-mile section of the West Bank barrier near Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. The Supreme Court rejected a Palestinian petition against the construction, saying Israel has the right to protect Jewish worshippers visiting the tomb of the Biblical matriarch. The petitioners had said the barrier will cut off 35 Palestinian homes from Bethlehem.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will host Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik. Jordan's King Abdullah will also attend the summit. The two sides hope to declare a joint cease-fire ending four years of violence.

Egypt and Jordan are likely to announce an upgrade to diplomatic relations with Israel at the four-way summit, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom announced. "I believe that Egypt and Jordan will send back their ambassadors to Israel," he said. Those ambassadors were recalled shortly after violence erupted four years ago, to protest Israeli military actions against the Palestinians. Israel hopes that a thaw with Egypt and Jordan will prompt other Arab countries to establish ties with the Jewish state.

The Jerusalem Post reports the chief organization opposing Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the Yesha Council, is quietly looking into obtaining land inside Israel to relocate several settlements. A leader told the English-language paper he was only seeking "insurance" in case efforts in case the campaign against withdrawal fails.

In his State of the Union speech, President Bush said he would seek $350 million to support political, economic and social reforms for the Palestinians.

The Israeli cabinet ministers approved the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners immediately after Tuesday's summit, an official in the meeting said on condition of anonymity. An additional 400 prisoners will be freed within three months.

In addition, the ministers decided the army would pull out of the West Bank town of Jericho in the coming days, the first of five cities to be vacated by the army in the coming weeks. The ministers also approved the formation of a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee to decide what to do with Palestinian fugitives.

A joint declaration of a cessation of violence is one of the first requirements in the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"We are not talking about peace now, and not about the road map but rather about phases that come before implementation of the road map," Sharon was quoted as saying at Thursday's meeting by participants.

The ministers also approved an earlier decision by the army chief to halt the targeted killings of wanted Palestinian fugitive, agreed to form a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee to decide what to do with Palestinian fugitives, and approved construction of a seaport in Gaza, which would provide a boost to the Palestinian economy. The economy of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been hit hard during four years of fighting, in which Israeli security measures have constrained trade.