Israel has agreed to release Palestinian prisoners to resume peace talks, but will not yield to other demands the Palestinians say must be met before they return to the negotiating table.
Strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz said yesterday that Israel was prepared to release some "heavyweight" prisoners but could not accept Palestinian demands over the borders of their future state before talks begin.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Israel and the Palestinians had laid the groundwork to resume talks after an almost three-year stalemate, but that more diplomacy was required.
"There will be some release of prisoners," Steinitz told Israel Radio. "I don't want to give numbers but there will be heavyweight prisoners who have been in jail for tens of years." The release would be carried out in phases, he added.
Palestinians have long demanded Israel free prisoners held since before 1993, when both sides signed the Oslo Accords, an interim deal intended to lead to the independent state sought by Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"In all meetings held by President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) with minister Kerry and others, the Palestinian demand to release the prisoners topped the agenda," said Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh. "Freeing prisoners is a Palestinian priority that should precede any agreement.
There are about 100 pre-Oslo prisoners in Israeli jails, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a body that looks after the interests of inmates and their families.
Steinitz indicated that some of those who would be released had been convicted of violent crimes against Israelis.
"It will not be simple, but we will make that gesture," he said.
The Palestinians say the talks must be about establishing a future state with boundaries approximating those that existed before Israel captured territories in a 1967 war.
Steinitz said there had been no Israeli concession on that point nor on the Palestinian demand that Israel halt all construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Kerry said on Friday the deal between Israel and the Palestinians to resume negotiations was still being "formalised" but that negotiators for both sides could begin talks in Washington "within the next week or so".
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