Palestinian Prisoners

GAZA, Gaza Strip -- One night five years ago, Israeli troops stormed through a dusty alleyway here and burst into a bare concrete house. They herded the family into a corner and carted the paralyzed father in his wheelchair into a waiting van.That man, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, is now one of the most important symbols of opposition to the peace process. The demand for his release from an Israeli jail is a chief sticking point of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.Israel contends that the sheik, 58 and paralyzed below the neck, remains the figurative leader of the fundamentalist Muslim Hamas group.

JERUSALEM - Israeli officials indicated yesterday that thousands of Palestinian prisoners would be eligible for release and could be freed in stages to help push forward a peace plan and stabilize a Palestinian government that is trying to protect a fragile cease-fire with militant groups. The Israeli officials also agreed to let Palestinians have a say in which prisoners are eventually set free - allowing the two sides to coordinate on what has become one of the most contentious issues during the first stage of direct peace talks.

JERUSALEM-- Israel's most sacred holiday of Yom Kippur was marred yesterday by confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators that reportedly left about 100 Palestinians wounded by bullets and two girls blinded.Soldiers fired live ammunition, plastic bullets and tear gas to disperse several thousand demonstrators outside the Red Cross headquarters in Rafah refugee camp, at the southern end of the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, witnesses said. Palestinians threw stones and at least five fire bombs, they said.

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Cabinet approved yesterday the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners, carrying out one of the key goodwill measures Israel agreed to as part of a Mideast truce. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pushed for the release, saying it would provide a much-needed boost to the newly elected Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who is facing a political challenge from the militant Islamic group Hamas in parliamentary elections. Yesterday's move fulfilled Israel's promise during the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt on Feb. 8 to grant 900 Palestinians prisoners their freedom.

JERUSALEM -- Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian politician who helped lead a West Bank uprising, was sentenced yesterday to five consecutive life terms plus 40 years by an Israeli court that meted out the stiffest punishment for his role in the killings of a Greek monk in 2001 and four Israelis in 2002. Appearing in a Tel Aviv court, Barghouti said he was found guilty before the trial began and admonished the three-judge panel. "You are like the pilots who drop the bombs on the Palestinian cities," said Barghouti, 45. "You are just the same."

JERUSALEM -- Acting in the wake of the nationally televised bludgeoning of an Israeli soldier by enraged Palestinians, Israel announced a halt in the return of land to the Palestinians until they stop the campaign of incitement that has engulfed the peace process.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ultimatum went further: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must forgo his recently revived intention to declare an independent state in May and accede to the parameters of a prisoner release negotiated at Wye, Md., in October.

JERUSALEM - Israel published the names yesterday of nearly 350 Palestinian prisoners to be freed soon, in a move intended to improve the atmosphere for peace negotiations, but the list brought only cries of complaint from Palestinians. The peace plan does not require Israel to free prisoners. But Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has made releasing Palestinians jailed by the Israelis a top priority, and Israel says it wants to strengthen Abbas' position. Instead of nudging the negotiations forward, though, the prisoner issue has become a leading point of contention.

JERUSALEM -- At the first interrogation session, the officer put a foot on Hassan Halawani's testicles and began twisting his collar to choke him. When the Palestinian replied with an insult, xTC two of the interrogators rammed his head into a concrete wall, he said.The paralysis started then.Before he was arrested by Israeli authorities, Mr. Halawani, 44, was a fit, black-belted karate instructor. Now he can move his left arm only by lifting it with his right. He walks slowly and painfully with a cane.

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian officials said yesterday that Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, would meet tomorrow with the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, in the West Bank city of Jericho. An Israeli government spokesman could not immediately confirm the date or location of the proposed meeting but said that one would take place "very soon." A gap was already becoming apparent, though, between Palestinian expectations and Israel's stated intentions regarding what the meeting would cover.

While Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has committed himself time and again to forging a peace agreement with the Palestinians this year, his government has overseen a robust expansion of Jewish settlements in the contested West Bank. Mr. Olmert is not unlike other Israeli leaders in this respect, talking about peace while ignoring one of the most divisive issues in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The more settlements, the less land will be available for a future Palestinian state. It's a problem that only deepens with time.