Olmert Makes 'Gesture of Goodwill'

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, June 25 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Monday to seek the release of 250 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in response to calls from Arab leaders that he take steps to shore up the emergency government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian officials spoke positively of Olmert's announcement but said he had failed to give timelines or other specifics. Olmert renewed promises to ease Israeli restrictions on West Bank residents and reestablish Israeli-Palestinian discussions toward Palestinian statehood.

"We need to see how they will implement the promises on the ground," said Nabil Amr, a spokesman for Abbas, after a summit in this Egyptian resort that featured closed-door bilateral talks among the four leaders attending. "Two-hundred-and fifty prisoners is a good step, but if that's the best he can offer it's not even legitimate."

The meeting brought Abbas and Olmert together with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab states that have signed peace treaties with Israel.

Abbas said the sense of urgency created by Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip this month should be funneled into reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The two sides last negotiated in earnest in 2001.

"Today we have an opportunity to fulfill our dream of coexistence," said Jordan's King Abdullah II. "The only alternative will be more years wasted in negotiations and losses."

The Jordanian king spoke in an open session during which the four leaders read statements into the television cameras, sitting around a massive square table that kept each leader yards apart from his counterparts.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak convened the summit to explore resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, bolstering Abbas's West Bank administration and containing Hamas in Gaza.

In mid-June, Hamas forces routed fighters loyal to Abbas's Fatah movement in Gaza, prompting Abbas to dissolve a Fatah-Hamas government and declare a new administration whose authority appears limited to the West Bank. Hamas, which has proposed reconciliation talks but has been rebuffed by Fatah leaders, says its government is still legitimate.

Olmert's announcement regarding 250 of the roughly 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli custody represented the only new Israeli move Monday.

"As a gesture of goodwill towards the Palestinians, I will bring before the Israeli cabinet a proposal to free 250 Fatah prisoners who do not have blood on their hands, after they sign a commitment not to return to violence," Olmert said.

Referring to an Israeli soldier captured a year ago by Hamas-affiliated groups, Olmert said: "Abbas more than once made a commitment to me that he will act to secure the release of Gilad Shalit from the extremists who are holding him. I believe that his intentions in this matter are sincere, but he himself faces a wall of silence and cruelty by the Hamas and terrorist organizations."