Palestinian Prisoners

JERUSALEM -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright intervened in a stalemate over a revised Middle East peace agreement yesterday by urging Israelis and Palestinians to work out their differences over the emotional issue of Palestinian prisoner releases.Albright was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak after her arrival in Israel last night from the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, where she and other dignitaries had hoped to witness the signing of a new agreement to implement the U.S.-brokered Wye River Memorandum.

JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinians embarked on one of the most emotionally charged phases of the U.S.-backed "road map" to peace yesterday - deciding whether Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were implicated in terrorist attacks, would soon be released. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pushed a 13-8 vote through his Cabinet to agree to terms for the freeing of several hundred Palestinian detainees, considered a key step in advancing the peace initiative. In an initial vote, members of Sharon's government rebuffed him, saying the conditions set for the release of Palestinian prisoners were not tough enough.

THE LIMITED release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel is threatening to undermine the leadership of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the cease-fire in the tenuous Middle East peace agreement. All sides in this dispute need to re-evaluate their positions if the process is to move forward. As a confidence-building measure, Israel has decided to release about 300 of the estimated 6,000 Palestinians arrested during the recent uprising. Critics of Mr. Abbas - some reportedly encouraged by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, forever the spoiler - reject that number as too few, and we don't necessarily disagree.

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.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - For the first time in 26 months, Awad and Sulieman Mashal were free, and friends hoisted the brothers above a crowd, everyone's cheers drowned out by the blasts of car horns as people celebrated the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails yesterday. It was a chaotic conclusion to an event carefully choreographed by the Israeli army, a political gesture that managed to infuriate Palestinians and at least a small number of Israelis. For many Palestinians, the number of men released yesterday was far too small; for some Israelis, the 334 people let go was far too high.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Palestinian youths punctured the air with automatic gunfire yesterday to celebrate the return of Hamdi el-Rifi from 23 years in prison and exile.But inside his father's house, the popular Palestinian leader was worried that there is no school in the Gaza Strip where his daughter, 10, can continue learning the French she acquired in their Tunisian exile.Mr. el-Rifi is one of thousands of exiles, refugees and prisoners returning here following the official start Wednesday of Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank town of Jericho and the Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM -- To Farah Raba Barghouti, peering at the world from one good eye and 65 hard years, the peace talks with Israel have done nothing to free her two grown sons from prison."

JERUSALEM -- Less than a week before President Clinton is to arrive to promote the land-for-security deal he brokered in October, the Middle East peace process is again in crisis, with disputes raging over the accord and his visit.Israeli and Palestinian leaders accused one another yesterday of lying about the terms of the Wye peace agreement, which was suspended last week by Israel. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners joined a hunger strike to protest their detention by Israel.Several of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet ministers called on Clinton to postpone his high-profile visit to Israel and the Palestinian areas, which is to begin Saturday.