Prisoner release tests Mideast 'map'

"There isn't a cease-fire, there's a reduction in attacks," says Barry Rubin, a professor at Bar Ilan University. He cites the kidnapping of a taxi driver and a bombing in northern Israel in early July that killed a woman. "Abbas has refused to crack down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad," he adds, referring to a statement the prime minister made in Cairo on Wednesday.

Mr. Rubin says a central issue facing Sharon in his talks with Bush is that of reciprocity. "If we get a real cease-fire, what do we give for it," he says. "On the question of prisoners, Israel will release some, but it's not an obligation, and it's not part of the road map."

Israelis charge that Palestinian militants are using the cease-fire to rearm, and that releasing prisoners would simply bolster terrorist groups. Even so, while Sharon is in the US, Israel will release 450 of 7,730 detainees it holds, a gesture in response to US pressure that is directed more toward Bush than Abbas.

Palestinian officials say a larger release is vital. Militant groups have tied continuation of the cease-fire to a release.

Mainstream officials say prisoners played a large part in organizing the cease-fire and could drum up support for the road map. And Abbas, who has no natural constituency within Palestinian politics, needs the popular support a release would give him.

"The prisoner question is crucial," says Mr. Zananiri. "If they're kept in custody, it's hard to convince the masses to support the road map when nothing else is happening on the ground. Israel is not pulling out of the cities, checkpoints are still there, life is still catastrophic for many people, and they need moral encouragement. This is why it's so crucial and important."

Mr. Fares, who himself spent 14 years in Israeli jails, argues that former prisoners can mobilize support for peace with Israel. "You are able much more than others to play a role in the peace process," he says, sitting in the Beit Jala offices of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, a group he helped form.

Fares, released as a result of the Oslo peace process of the 1990s, isn't upbeat about the prisoner talks. "The Israelis aren't serious," he says.

Many Israelis think that's a good thing. "It's crazy to release prisoners," says Shlomi Azulai, a young Israeli from Jerusalem who survived a suicide bombing in March 2002 that killed a close friend and 13 others. "Think of all the mothers, kids, fathers of people who died. This is a big mistake by the Israeli government."

Referring to Israel's assertion that it won't release prisoners who have killed Israelis, Mr. Azulai snorts. "There's no such thing as 'no blood on your hands.' If you didn't do it, you made the bomb or helped the bomber get to us."

Page: 1 | 2