MIDDLE EAST: Palestinian Prime Minister Mr Mahmoud Abbas yesterday called off a meeting scheduled for today with his Israeli counterpart, Mr Ariel Sharon, amid Palestinian disillusionment over the release of security prisoners in Israeli jails.
The meeting between the two men was to coincide with the release today of 339 Palestinian prisoners. While the international community had hoped the freeing of prisoners would be a confidence-building measure that would boost the road map peace plan, it has become a point of deepening dispute between the two sides.
Palestinian officials are disappointed that many of those who will go free were to have completed their sentences in the coming weeks and months anyway, and that longer-serving prisoners were not included in the total of 438 prisoners who are to be released.
This number also includes 99 prisoners interned for criminal offences and who will be freed at a later date.
The Palestinians, who view the prisoners as freedom fighters, were also annoyed by the inclusion of criminals on the release list.
"You can take these ones home with you," Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs, Mr Hisham Abdel Razeq, told an Israeli reporter.
After Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat on Monday called Israel's decision to release the prisoners a "fraud" - he has demanded that many more of the close to 7,000 be freed - Mr Abbas could not afford to be seen in Mr Sharon's presence on the very day the first releases were taking place.
A Palestinian official said Mr Abbas had cancelled the meeting "because it will only be ceremonial on the day prisoners are released."
Israeli officials yesterday denied reports Mr Sharon had also cancelled the meeting, because of a shooting attack Sunday in which a woman and her three children, from a settlement near Jerusalem, were injured.
Deputy Prime Minister Mr Ehud Olmert said the Israeli leader had not set any preconditions for the meeting and suggested Mr Abbas had likely pulled out because "there is pressure on him [at home]." Asked why Israel had not released more prisoners in a bid to bolster Mr Abbas, Mr Olmert said the government would not make overly-generous, unreciprocated gestures to the Palestinians. Israel is demanding that the Palestinian Authority dismantle militant groups - a stipulation outlined in the first phase of the road map - if it wants more prisoners freed.
The prisoners will be taken by bus and dropped off at 2:30 p.m. local time at a number of points in the West Bank and Gaza, where they will be welcomed by their families and Palestinian Authority representatives. Any prisoner refusing to sign a form saying they will not re-engage in attacks on Israelis, will be returned to their cell.
Mr Abbas met yesterday with Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in the Gaza Strip in a bid to shore up support for the truce declared by militants on June 29th. Officials of the two Islamic groups expressed their disillusionment with Israel's implementation of the road map.
A poll published yesterday by Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, found that 78 per cent of Palestinians believe Israel is violating the peace plan. Some 74 per cent of respondents, however, said they supported the continuation of the cease-fire.