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Israel approves release conditions for detainees
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel's Cabinet approved criteria Sunday that could allow the release of several hundred Palestinian prisoners. Israeli security chief Avi Dichter presented the proposed criteria and a list of candidates who would be eligible for release as part of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Dichter said released detainees would not include Palestinians charged with killing Israelis, members of hard-line militant groups or Palestinians labeled as security threats. A committee of Cabinet ministers was expected to determine who would be released. About 6,000 Palestinian prisoners are in Israel's custody. The move to release some prisoners is one of the conditions laid down by the militant groups -- Islamic Jihad, Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a faction aligned with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement -- when they announced a temporary cease-fire last week. The cease-fire was born out of international pressure on Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to follow a U.S.-backed so-called road map to peace. The road map proposes steps by both sides toward ending the conflict and establishing an independent Palestinian state peacefully existing side-by-side with Israel by 2005. On Thursday, Israel released dozens of Palestinian detainees, including Suleiman Abu Mutlaq, a senior Palestinian security official, Palestinian security sources said. Israeli military sources said 33 Palestinian detainees were freed in all. Most were detained in an operation to arrest suspected militants in the West Bank town of Hebron. Since the cease-fire was announced last Sunday, the Israeli military has withdrawn from parts of Gaza and the West Bank, including Bethlehem. Israel has indicated it would hand over control of more Palestinian territory if the cease-fire holds. But on Thursday, a local head of Al Aqsa in the West Bank was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces, Palestinian medical sources said. Mahmoud Ahmad Shawar, 31, was the head of the militant group in Qalqilya, the sources said. He was shot in the head, they said. In a leaflet released Thursday, Al Aqsa said it would retaliate on a one-to-one basis for any killing or arrest of group members. Also Thursday, Israel responded to a pair of attacks on Jewish settlements in Gaza by temporarily blocking part of a north-south Gaza highway. Israel lodged a formal complaint with Palestinian authorities for alleged truce violations, Israeli military sources said. The Israelis military sources reported several other violent incidents last week, none of which resulted in casualties. Among the incidents was the launch of a Qassam rocket Friday from northern Gaza. The rocket hit a field near Sderot, Israel, according to Israeli military sources. Also Friday, near the settlement of Kadim, a Palestinian gunman opened fire at Israeli soldiers, the Israel Defense Forces said. Friday night, Palestinians fired an anti-tank missile, threw two hand grenades and opened fire in four different incidents at IDF posts near the town of Rafah in southern Gaza, the IDF reported.
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