Palestinian Prisoners

JERUSALEM -- Neither peace agreements nor public scrutiny has lessened the systematic torture and ill treatment of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli authorities, according to a 316-page report to be released today by an international human rights organization.While interrogating an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 Palestinians each year, the report says, the Israeli army and the General Security Service "engage in a systematic pattern of ill-treatment and torture -- according to internationally recognized definitions of the terms.

JERUSALEM - Israel will release about 150 Palestinian prisoners, including perhaps a couple of prominent ones, at the end of this month as a gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, officials from both sides said after a meeting yesterday between Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel. The meeting, part of an effort to create a peace framework between the two sides before President Bush leaves office, was the first since Olmert announced that he would be stepping down in the coming months because of corruption investigations.

JERUSALEM - After 18 days, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails called off their hunger strike yesterday, and while Palestinian officials tried to put on a brave face, there was little doubt that they had suffered a significant defeat. "We announce to you all that all prisoners in all prisons have ended today their open hunger strike," said the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, Hisham Abdel-Razek, speaking in Gaza. He said that "most of the demands" for improved conditions in prison had been met, an assertion Israeli officials quickly denied.

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli Cabinet approved yesterday the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners in what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said was a move to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the aftermath of Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip. But the step was likely to be awkward for Abbas domestically because the prisoners to be freed are solely from his Fatah movement, exposing him to criticism that he is only looking after the interests of his own faction. Also, the 22-country Arab League will send envoys on an important first mission to Israel this week to discuss a sweeping Arab peace initiative and how it might prop up Abbas, Israeli and Arab diplomats said yesterday.

KUBER, Occupied West Bank -- To Palestinians, Fachri Barghouti is a hero, a freedom fighter who helped kill a Jewish bus driver in the war against the Israeli occupiers. Sentenced to a life prison term, he has spent 20 years in an Israeli jail.To Israelis, Barghouti and others like him are men with blood on their hands. For their crimes they should stay in prison.But Barghouti's crime took place in 1978 when the Palestine Liberation Organization waged a terrorist campaign against Israel. Today, Israel and the Palestinians are at peace, but the release of prisoners like Barghouti was the central point of passionate disagreement in the way of a deal that would revive their peace process.

JERUSALEM - Israel will release about 150 Palestinian prisoners, including perhaps a couple of prominent ones, at the end of this month as a gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, officials from both sides said after a meeting yesterday between Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel. The meeting, part of an effort to create a peace framework between the two sides before President Bush leaves office, was the first since Olmert announced that he would be stepping down in the coming months because of corruption investigations.

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli Cabinet approved yesterday the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners in what Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said was a move to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the aftermath of Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip. But the step was likely to be awkward for Abbas domestically because the prisoners to be freed are solely from his Fatah movement, exposing him to criticism that he is only looking after the interests of his own faction. Also, the 22-country Arab League will send envoys on an important first mission to Israel this week to discuss a sweeping Arab peace initiative and how it might prop up Abbas, Israeli and Arab diplomats said yesterday.

JERUSALEM -- With Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks in Gaza failing to free a 19-year-old soldier abducted by Palestinian militants, the soldier's father has raised a difficult question facing Israel: Should the government negotiate with hostage takers? Speaking outside his house, Noam Shalit, the father of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, urged the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his son. "In the end, it will be necessary to pay a price for Gilad's freedom," the elder Shalit said this week.

JERUSALEM -- A first meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was postponed yesterday because of disagreements over troop pullbacks in the West Bank and the release of Palestinian prisoners. The delay of the summit at least until the end of the month indicated that despite hopes that the Gaza withdrawal would help revive peace efforts, Israel and the Palestinians remain deadlocked even over confidence-building measures.

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat are taking steps to revive their stalled peace talks, overshadowed for the past week by Israel's abrupt withdrawal from Lebanon. Barak is to fly to Germany tomorrow to meet with President Clinton and discuss the "implications" of the withdrawal and "ways to advance the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in particular," the prime minister's office announced yesterday. Arafat, meanwhile, has restrained the often-violent Palestinian demonstrations of recent weeks, which had prompted Israel to suspend the talks.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian government expressed hopes yesterday of arranging a cease-fire to end their bloody two-week-old confrontation over the capture of an Israeli soldier. Israeli troops and armor also pulled back from a swath of northern Gaza they had held for two days, although military commanders warned that they could re-enter the area at any time to quell rocket fire by Palestinian militants. Israeli forces remained dug in at a disused airport in the southern Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM -- With Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks in Gaza failing to free a 19-year-old soldier abducted by Palestinian militants, the soldier's father has raised a difficult question facing Israel: Should the government negotiate with hostage takers? Speaking outside his house, Noam Shalit, the father of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, urged the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his son. "In the end, it will be necessary to pay a price for Gilad's freedom," the elder Shalit said this week.

JERUSALEM -- The deadline set by Palestinian militant groups holding an Israeli soldier for Israel to begin releasing Palestinian prisoners or "bear all the consequences" passed early today without any word on the fate of the 19-year-old captive. Abu Muthana, a spokesman for one of the Hamas-linked groups holding Cpl. Gilad Shalit, said that because Israel had ignored their deadline, the militants won't release any information about the soldier. He declined to say whether Shalit is alive.

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to announce tomorrow that he will use his power of presidential decree to hold a national referendum on the question of establishing a Palestinian state beside Israel, according to Palestinian officials. The decree would follow 10 days of apparently fruitless talks between members of Abbas' Fatah movement and the Hamas-led Palestinian government over whether Hamas would endorse a document written by Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners that implicitly recognizes Israel.

JERUSALEM -- A first meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was postponed yesterday because of disagreements over troop pullbacks in the West Bank and the release of Palestinian prisoners. The delay of the summit at least until the end of the month indicated that despite hopes that the Gaza withdrawal would help revive peace efforts, Israel and the Palestinians remain deadlocked even over confidence-building measures.

THE HANDSHAKE between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at their Egyptian summit this week telegraphed to the world their commitment to end hostilities. That's a significant step forward after four years of suicide bombings and retaliatory attacks that have killed 1,000 Israelis and 3,400 Palestinians. There's reason to be hopeful for the first time in a long time. Both men are pragmatic realists who know what needs to be done to extend this moment of promise on the path to peace.

MEMO TO: All Arab leaders From: President Bush Dear Gents: I'm sure you've seen the news that Israel's leader, Ariel Sharon, has decided to withdraw unilaterally from most settlements in the Gaza Strip and to relocate others in the West Bank. This presents a huge opportunity and a huge risk to Israel, the Arab world and to us. We must work to shape it right. Let's start with the risks. Don't think I'm happy about how this Sharon plan unfolded. Think about it: Last summer, the Palestinians put forward a new prime minister and security chief, Mahmoud Abbas and Mohammed Dahlan, as moderate alternatives to Yasser Arafat - just the kind of people I wanted to work with.

JERUSALEM -- President Clinton left the Middle East yesterday expressing optimism that the peace process was back on track, but Israel remains dissatisfied with Palestinian compliance and won't carry out a troop withdrawal set for Friday.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he could not return more West Bank land to the Palestinians until they met all their obligations under the land-for-security deal signed Oct. 23.As Clinton was proclaiming his peace-making mission a success, he found himself embroiled in a controversy over comparisons ++ he had made between Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism and the families of Palestinian prisoners.

JERUSALEM - Israel said yesterday that it would free 170 jailed Palestinians in a gesture of gratitude for Egypt's release two weeks ago of an Israeli Arab imprisoned for spying. It would be the first sizable release of Palestinian prisoners in nearly a year and is intended to be seen as a conciliatory move toward the interim Palestinian leadership after the death last month of Yasser Arafat. The prisoners would likely be freed next week, according to Israeli news reports. Palestinian officials received the news with skepticism, saying previous releases by Israel have involved prisoners near the end of their sentences who for the most part were ordinary criminals rather than those jailed for political involvement.