Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet in Jerusalem tomorrow, a week after Mr Olmert threw US-sponsored peace talks into limbo by announcing that he would step down.
Aides said Mr Olmert favoured freeing some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails as a goodwill gesture to Mr Abbas, but they gave no timeline.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Mr Abbas would "raise a number of issues, such as the permanent-status issues, checkpoints and prisoners."
Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of five Palestinian prisoners as part of a swap deal with the Hizbullah that brought the bodies of two Israeli soldiers home.
Israel released 429 Palestinian prisoners last December to bolster Mr Abbas. A smaller group was released in October.
The issue of prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters against foreign occupation. Many Israelis fear that such amnesties encourage Palestinian militants to strike again.
Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Minister Ashraf al-Ajrami said Mr Abbas would insist that any deal include long-serving prisoners, women and children as well as political leaders, a reference to uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi, seen as a possible successor to Mr Abbas.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, aimed at reaching a statehood deal in 2008, have been marred by disputes over Jewish settlement building and violence.
Faced with a widening corruption probe, Mr Olmert announced last Wednesday that he would stand down as premier after a September 17th leadership contest within his centrist Kadima party.
But he has vowed to press ahead with the negotiations with the Palestinians and indirect talks with Syria until his last day in office.