Olmert to free Palestinian prisoners

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sought wide Arab support on Monday for a U.S.-led peace conference by agreeing to release 441 Palestinian prisoners and reaffirming a pledge not to build new Jewish settlements.

But Olmert, speaking before a two-hour meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, did not say whether he would agree to U.S. and Palestinian demands to halt all construction in existing settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, latching on to the uncertainty, described Olmert's comments as "nonsense" unless they included halting new building in established settlements.

Nonetheless, both sides said after the two leaders met that negotiators resumed talks on a joint document on how they might resume peace negotiations after next week's meeting in Maryland.

In an incident of a sort that has been rare of late, gunmen shot dead an Israeli man in the West Bank near settlements close to Qalqilya, the Israeli army said. It was not clear if the shooting was linked to political developments.

A week before the conference in Annapolis, both sides said they would continue efforts to draft a document before the meeting addressing, in general terms, core issues such as borders and the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

"Both sides seem ripe for reaching an agreement before Annapolis," Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin said. "There is enough agreement on enough things that there isn't an atmosphere of crisis, although there are some issues that remain open."

Erekat said the leaders exchanged new proposals and agreed negotiating teams would immediately resume work on the document.

A U.S. State Department spokesman in Washington said he was confident there would be "a good solid document" agreed.

SETTLEMENTS

U.S. and Israeli officials have said a joint document was not a precondition for Annapolis, a chance for President George W. Bush, saddled with the legacy of the unpopular war in Iraq, to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking before leaving office.

Olmert told his cabinet before meeting Abbas "there will be no new settlements and no land confiscations" from Palestinians, as called for under a 2003 U.S.-backed "road map" plan that charts reciprocal steps towards a peace agreement.

He said Israel would fulfill all its obligations under the road map, but he gave no timeframe.

The violence-stalled plan, which also calls on Palestinians to rein in militants, will serve as the basis for statehood talks to be launched after the November 26-27 Annapolis conference.

Israel has not built a new settlement in the West Bank in nearly 10 years but has pressed on with construction in existing ones. In addition, settlers have set up several dozen hilltop outposts without government approval.