US CAUTIOUS OF MED UNION

FRANCE CELEBRATES BASTTILE DAY
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Israel okays Hezbollah prisoner swap despite Arad snag by Albion Land JULY 15,08

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's cabinet gave the final go-ahead on Tuesday for a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, despite complaining that the Lebanese Shiite movement had not fully kept its side of the bargain. The decision set the ball rolling for the release on Wednesday of five Lebanese prisoners, including the perpetrator of a brutal 1979 triple murder, in exchange for two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas in a deadly 2006 raid that sparked a 34-day war.The government has ratified the deal, Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai told reporters after the cabinet meeting, which adopted the measure by a vote of 22-3.The families of the Two Israeli soldiers -- Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev -- have never been told by Hezbollah of their fate, although both are widely believed to be dead.The cabinet first approved the swap deal in June, but was asked to endorse it again after Israel received a Hezbollah report on missing airman Ron Arad, whose fate has long been a cause celebre in the Jewish state.Arad has been missing since his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 during that country's civil war, and although the report said he was probably dead, Israel has rejected its findings.A cabinet statement said the report does not meet the conditions of the agreement over the fate of Ron Arad. The Israeli government will continue in its efforts to retrieve any possible information over the fate of Ron Arad.

Yishai said the swap came at a much lower price than what we had to pay in the past, with all the pain involved in it. We did not want to put the Regev and Goldwasser families in the same situation as the Arad family.Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog said we should make every possible effort to get more information on Ron Arad and secure the release of Gilad Shalit.Shalit was captured in a 2006 raid by several Gaza militant groups including the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that now rules the territory, and he is still being held.The issue of Ron Arad is an open wound that will not be solved through the release of Samir Kantar, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said. We will have to continue working in order to bring an answer to his family, the nation and the army.The UN-brokered swap, the eighth between Israel and Hezbollah since 1991, stirred controversy over the decision to release Samir Kantar , a Lebanese militant who murdered three Israeli civilians including a child in 1979.Israel will also hand over the remains of 200 Lebanese and Palestinians.Before the exchange can proceed, Israel's Supreme Court must also hear three petitions against it, and President Shimon Peres must formally pardon the five Lebanese.Peres said it was not a happy day for having to free such murderers but we have a moral responsibility to bring our soldiers home.His spokeswoman, Ayelet Frish, said he would sign the pardons Tuesday night.Meanwhile, there was still no word on how the Supreme Court ruled, but the tribunal was not expected to delay the swap.

The Goldwasser and Regev families have been pushing hard for the swap. Goldwasser's father Shlomo told AFP that if his son comes home in a coffin, Hezbollah must pay the price. Our basic assumption has been that they were kidnapped alive. If they return in coffins it would mean they were killed. Those who killed them must pay with their lives and should join Imad Mughnieh if that is the case.Mughnieh was a top Hezbollah commander murdered in Damascus in February. Hezbollah blamed Israel for his death, but the Jewish state denied involvement. Come what may we are simply happy that the affair will be over, Goldwasser said. While the mood in Israel is sombre, Hezbollah plans a hero's welcome for its fighters, with celebratory banners and flags lining the main highway from the border with Israel at Naqura to Lebanon's southern port city of Sidon. We are a people who will not abandon our detainees in prison, reads one banner, taken from a pledge by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Thanks to the weapons of the resistance, we will free our prisoners, says another.

Blair postpones Gaza visit, cites specific threat By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer JULY 15,08

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Mideast envoy Tony Blair on Tuesday called off what would have been the first visit of a top Western diplomat to Hamas-ruled Gaza, after Israel's Shin Bet security service said he might come under attack there. The Shin Bet security service said it had received pinpoint information that Palestinians were planning to attack Blair in Gaza, so the relevant services alerted him to the fact.Blair told The Associated Press that the threat was specific and credible, forcing him to call off the trip but he said it was a postponement, not a cancellation.I intend to go to Gaza as soon as I can, and I will continue to press for help for the people there, he said.Blair's visit Tuesday was to have included a tour of a Gaza waste water project and meetings with traders and U.N. officials, but not with leaders of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that seized Gaza by force more than a year ago.

Hamas made security arrangements for Blair, setting up checkpoints in areas he was expected to tour, banning cars from using roads and lining streets with black-clad policemen carrying AK-47s.Since the Hamas takeover, Gaza has been virtually sealed off from the world by Israel and Egypt, a policy that has received tacit international backing.Blair has said in recent weeks that a new policy toward Gaza needs to be developed, pointing to the growing suffering of Gaza's people, but has not offered a plan. The options are limited because much of the international community considers Hamas a terrorist group and has shunned its government.Blair's spokesman, Matthew Doyle, said the envoy called off the visit due to a specific security threat which would have made it irresponsible to proceed, not just for those visiting but also the local community.

Blair denied that the Israeli government pressed him to call off the trip. It was a pity, because it would have been important to go and see for myself the situation in Gaza, he said.Taher Nunu, a Hamas government spokesman denied there were any security threats against Blair. Gaza is still open for all visitors, to break the siege and see the extent of suffering here, he said.Although the once lawless Gaza has been mostly pacified under Hamas' stern rule, there are still shadowy extremist Muslim groups in the territory. On an Islamist forum popular with Gaza residents, some users slammed Blair's expected visit, but there were no direct threats of violence against him. Those comments were later removed from the Web site.A key stop on Blair's trip would have been a northern Gaza waste water project being built with international funds. The Mideast envoy had not been expected to meet officials from Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction and is considered a terrorist group by the U.S., European Union and Israel.We are very disappointed, said John Ging, Gaza director of the U.N. agency in charge of aiding Palestinian refugees.Blair, a former British prime minister, is trying to revive the struggling Palestinian economy to lay the groundwork for a future independent Palestinian state. He represents the Mideast Quartet — the U.S., Russia, the EU and the United Nations — which is trying to push the Palestinians and Israel toward a peace agreement.Blair also canceled a visit to Sderot expected on Tuesday, a town in southern Israel which is the frequent target of rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

US cautiously supports Mediterranean summit Mon Jul 14, 2:44PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US State Department gave cautious support Monday to a Mediterranean summit in Paris aimed at spurring on Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. We don't have an observer there. We don't have a place at the table. But I think, generally, it's an effort that we can, at the least, be supportive of, spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.What the specific outcomes of this grouping will be, you now, we'll see. We'll see. But it would appear that they had a good first meeting, he said.The United States hosted an international conference in Annapolis, Maryland last November that launched the first serious Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in seven years, but no concrete progress has been announced.In Paris on Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and more than 40 leaders launched a new Union for the Mediterranean, hoping to inject momentum in Middle East peace efforts.The new forum brings together the 27 countries of the European Union with states from north Africa, the Balkans and Arab nations with Israel to foster cooperation in one of the world's most volatile regions.

In Paris, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad scored a comeback on the international stage after years of isolation, taking his seat alongside Arab leaders at the same table with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.A strong proponent of isolating Damascus, Washington has been lukewarm toward new Turkish-brokered indirect peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, adding the Israeli-Palestinian track is the most mature.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that Israel and the Palestinians disagreed over the final declaration at the Mediterranean summit and the wording will have to be changed.

The Syrians Take Paris By ANDREW LEE BUTTERS/DAMASCUS
Mon Jul 14, 12:05 PM ET

For the head of state of a former French colony, an official visit to Paris is always a good chance do a little shopping, take in some culture, and impress the folks back home. So it was for Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria (which was once ruled by France under a League of Nations Mandate). Over the past weekend, Syrian state television has been beaming round-the-clock images of the Syrian President and his tres chic First Lady making the scene in the City of Light: Bashar at a summit for Mediterranean leaders, Asma at the Louvre and Centre Pompidou, and both of them as official guests of French President Nicholas Sarkozy at Bastille Day celebrations on Monday. From all the high wattage smiles, it's clear they're having a blast.And well they should. Not so long ago the Syrian First couple were personae non gratae in Western capitals. The U.S., which accuses Syria of sponsoring terrorism, led an effort to isolate the country diplomatically and economically. And in a rare instance of Franco-American harmony, France had its own grudge against Syria: the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hiriri, the former Lebanese prime minister and close friend of former French President Jacques Chirac, an act for which many in the West blamed Syria.But now Syria is back in style. The invitation to Paris is ostensibly a reward for the the start of indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel (through Turkish mediation.) But it's also recognition that attempts to isolate Syria have failed, and that the West needs Syrian help for resolving some of the biggest problems in the Middle East. For its part, Syria wants to come even further out of the cold. While in Paris, President Assad told French television that in the event of direct talks under American sponsorship, there could be peace between Syria and Israel within two years. So on the Fourth of July 2010, will Bashar be celebrating Independence Day in Washington?

Maybe, but maybe not. Of all the Middle Eastern conflicts, the rift between Israel and Syria would appear to be the easiest to mend. Israel would just have to return the Golan Heights, a rocky Syrian plateau that Israel captured in 1967. If Israel had a strong leader with a popular mandate (admittedly a big if) this wouldn't be impossible given that Israeli settlement in the Golan is relatively sparse and the Heights are no longer so strategically important thanks to advances in Israeli defense technology. But the tougher question is what Israel should get in return for the Golan.Israel and the U.S. want more than just an end to a state of war between Syria and Israel. They also wants Syria to stop supporting anti-Israeli militant groups in Palestine and Lebanon (Hamas and Hizballah respectively.) In other words, they want Syria to break away from its strategic partnership with Iran, the senior member of what's sometimes referred to as the Rejectionist Crescent, the arc of governments and militias stretching from Tehran to Gaza that oppose American and Israeli dominance in the Middle East.But Syria isn't going to abandon Iran, according to figures close to the Assad regime here in Damascus. It's not just that the elite of Iran and Syria have a long history of cooperation going back to 1979, when Syria was the first country to recognize the newly established Islamic Republic of Iran. It's also because Syria has no reason to switch sides just when its team is winning. From the fiasco of America's invasion of Iraq, to Hamas's victory in Gaza and Hizballah's victory in Lebanon, Iranian and Syrian power is on the rise in the Middle East. Defying America and Israel is the most popular position in most of the Arab world, and has helped keep the Assad regime in power all these years. Why change now? Assad only wants a package deal, a grand bargain between Syria and Iran on the one hand, and American and Israel on the other, that would settle the cold war for the Middle East. This means that the United States would have to give up once and for all its project for a new Middle East, and its penchant for regime change. That might happen on its own in November if Barack Obama becomes president. But a package deal would also have to solve the Iranian nuclear issue, map out the future of post-American Iraq, solve the Syrian-Israeli conflict, the Lebanese-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict all in one go. Would any American President, or any world leader, be able to pull that off in two years? Despite President Assad's rosy prediction, it's hard to imagine him shaking hands in the Rose Garden anytime soon. But at least he'll always have Paris. View this article on Time.com

Syria, Israel leaders mark Bastille Day in France By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 14, 11:56 AM ET

PARIS - The leaders of Syria and Israel, countries with a bitter enmity, as well as the Palestinian and Lebanese presidents together marked France's Bastille Day on Monday in a diplomatic coup for French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Other leaders from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, also attended the traditional Bastille Day parade, where troops in their finery marched down the tree-lined Champs-Elysees, and jets trailing smoke of red, white and blue roared overhead.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and more than two dozen other leaders stood on the official grandstand, looking up the Champs-Elysees toward the Arch of Triumph. The leaders had stayed over following a summit Sunday that launched an unprecedented Union for the Mediterranean, a brainchild of Sarkozy's aimed at securing peace across the restive region.

In launching the Mediterranean union, 43 nations, including Israel and Arab states, agreed to work for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.Deep divisions still slice through the region and its population of 800 million people, and surfaced during Sunday's summit, highlighting how hard it will be to parlay the meeting's good will and words into real progress.Assad refused to shake Olmert's hand, and Morocco's king snubbed the meeting attended by the president of rival Algeria. It was also unclear how the countries would enforce their pledge to pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction.Still, Sarkozy reveled at having brought so many leaders to the same table for the first time. His office brushed off critics' complaints that Assad should not have been allowed to stay for Monday's ceremonies because of Syrian human rights failings and suspicions that Syria was implicated in a 1983 bombing in Lebanon that killed 58 French soldiers.Campaign group Reporters Without Borders called Assad an enemy of press freedom whose government is guilty of ruthless censorship.Assad, in dark glasses, showed no emotion as French actor Kad Merad read aloud an extract from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in front of the grandstand where the leaders stood.Associated Press Writer Christine Ollivier in Paris contibuted to this report.

Palestinians: Obama to visit West Bank By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 14, 11:27 AM ET

PARIS - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will visit the West Bank next week as part of a swing through the Middle East, a Palestinian official said Monday, giving an important diplomatic boost to the Palestinians at a sensitive time in peace talks. The Palestinians expressed satisfaction over the planned meeting with the presumed Democratic nominee, which comes months after Obama's likely Republican opponent, John McCain, passed on meeting with the Palestinians during a brief visit to Israel.Obama is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his July 23 stop in Ramallah, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who was in Paris for a Mediterranean summit.We welcome this meeting, Erekat said. If Obama is elected, he added, we hope he will stay the course between Israel and the Palestinians in reaching peace and a two-state solution.During the same visit, Obama is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli officials. The Obama campaign declined to comment.The visit will be closely watched. The U.S. is the key broker in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, and officials on both sides are trying to get a feel on whether Obama will change U.S. policy in the region.President Bush is trying to broker a peace agreement before he leaves office.In Paris on Sunday, Olmert said the sides are closer than ever to achieving peace, but it is uncertain whether they can meet Bush's target date for at least the outline of a final deal. Israel and the Palestinians remain at odds over key issues, such as the fate of Jerusalem, and a burgeoning corruption scandal has threatened to drive Olmert from office.

Palestinians have privately complained that they suspect Bush is biased toward Israel, and expressed hope the next U.S. leader will be more sympathetic to their cause. While they have been careful not to take sides, officials were disappointed when McCain did not meet with them during his trip to Israel last March.McCain has long been a strong supporter of Israel in the Senate, and it appears unlikely he will radically change Bush's policies. During his visit, McCain said he would personally be engaged in peace talks if he's elected and make the matter his highest priority.

Obama's positions are far less clear.

In a recent speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he offered such ardent support for Israel that he had to backtrack just a few days later. Obama, working to woo Jewish voters, told the lobbying group that he supported Israel retaining control of an undivided Jerusalem. The comment so infuriated many Arab leaders that he was forced to issue a clarification that he didn't oppose Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the future of the city.Obama also has raised concerns among Israel's supporters because of his willingness to speak to Iran, while some have expressed concern about his Muslim roots. Obama's father and stepfather were Muslim and he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country. But he is a Christian.Few details of Obama's overseas travel schedule have been released. Obama's campaign has said he will travel to Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.In London on Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters he will meet Obama there for talks in the coming weeks. I think we will discuss what we can do about oil prices and food, Brown said during his monthly news conference.Associated Press Writer David Stringer contributed to this story from London.

Israel PM under fire as corruption probe widens by Charly Wegman Mon Jul 14, 9:30 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced mounting calls to resign and increased pressure from within his own party on Monday as the latest corruption probe into the embattled premier widened. A senior minister from Olmert's centrist Kadima party warned that Israel's foes view the multiple corruption investigations into the premier's affairs as a sign of weakness.
Many of our enemies consider these affairs as a sign of weakness in Israel, and in my opinion security is the most important thing, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told public radio.Iran is trying to get a nuclear weapon, Hezbollah is rearming and the truce with Hamas is fragile. We have to prove that we are strong, said Mofaz, who is expected to run for Kadima's leadership in a September party vote.Israeli media have been abuzz with speculation that Olmert's political career will soon be over in the wake of the latest corruption investigation to be launched against him.Attorney General Menahem Mazuz meanwhile rejected suggestions that he might suspend the 62-year-old Olmert, telling The Jerusalem Post daily that it was not his job to appoint prime ministers or dismiss them.

However, he said the question of whether the prime minister, given his present circumstances of all the investigations and allegations against him, can continue to serve is a legitimate one.Mazuz said that question had to be answered by the prime minister himself, and by the public and political echelons.Last week, under pressure from its coalition partner the Labour party, Kadima scheduled a leadership election for mid- or late September.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is viewed as front-runner, but former defence minister and army chief Mofaz is also jockeying for the top job, as are Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit.It remains unclear whether Olmert himself will run, but one Labour minister said last week that his party would pull out of the coalition if Olmert was a candidate -- a move that would effectively bring down the government.However neither Kadima nor Labour wants early elections because both are outweighed by the conservative opposition Likud party in public opinion polls.In the latest probe, Olmert was accused on Friday of having billed the state and various private organisations for the same airline tickets when he was Jerusalem mayor and trade minister.He is also accused of using allegedly ill-gotten gains from the trips to finance private family travel in what the media have dubbed the Olmert Tours affair.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Monday that detectives were following up on new leads in New York, Washington and Las Vegas.Olmert was questioned on Friday for the third time since May over allegations he illegally received tens of thousands of dollars from US millionaire financier Morris Talansky before he became prime minister in 2006.The premier's lawyers are due to begin cross-examining Talansky on Thursday.On a third front, Olmert's former secretary Shula Zaken was being questioned on Monday over allegations Olmert received a hefty discount on the price of a Jerusalem apartment in exchange for using his influence to get a developer permission to build on a historic site. In the past, Zaken has consistently refused to answer police questions, claiming her right not to incriminate herself. Olmert, who has adamantly denied all the allegations against him, has been in Paris for the launch of the Mediterranean Union and is due home on Monday night.

Asia-Africa talks on Palestine open in Jakarta Mon Jul 14, 5:15 AM ET

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened an Asia-Africa conference on capacity building for Palestine alongside Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad here Monday. The president of the world's most populous Muslim country said the ministerial-level talks aimed to offer help to prepare Palestinians to govern and administer their own state.Yudhoyono said the 53 countries and organisations at the Asia-Africa conference would reiterate calls for the implementation of the 2003 Middle East peace roadmap.The international community must work together in concert to realise the goal of an independent, viable Palestinian state in the very near future, he said.He backed what he called their courageous struggle against Israeli occupation of the their territories.It is a bitter struggle. There are now some four million Palestinians living in distress. They suffer all kinds of violence... Their human rights and their human dignity are violated, he said.The one-day conference is being held under the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership framework, intended to promote peace, prosperity and progress in the two regions.It comes after the Israelis and Palestinians held talks on the sidelines of a summit of Mediterranean leaders in Paris at the weekend.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Sunday: We have never been as close to an accord as we are today.Fayyad referred to ongoing negotiations with the Israelis but he made no reference to the Paris talks.He said the Palestinians needed help from Asia and Africa to realise the vision of Palestine that is democratic, that respects human rights and that guarantees equal rights for all citizens.Many of your states have recently passed through the phase we are in right now, or indeed are going through it. We Palestinians are inspired by your success stories, he said, referring to independence struggles.

Israel, Palestinians clash over summit text Mon Jul 14, 5:12AM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Israel and the Palestinians disagreed over the final declaration at a Mediterranean summit and the wording will have to be changed, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday. Kouchner said in a radio interview that the last-minute dispute between Israel and the Palestinians meant that the founding text of the Union for the Mediterranean will have to be corrected a bit.The dispute touched on the use of the term national and democratic state to describe Israel, a term that entails difficulties in terms of refugee return, Jewish or non-Jewish state, the foreign minister said.President Nicolas Sarkozy and some 40 leaders launched the new union at a Paris summit on Sunday, hoping to inject new momentum in Middle East peace efforts and bolster cooperation in the troubled region.There are words, or a phrasing of words that are not suitable because they invoke a historical legacy, a legacy of tragedy and murder also, said Kouchner.The final declaration was adopted with vague wording but negotiations on a definite formulation will continue along with talks on other details on the workings of the union such as the location of its permanent offices.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki said his delegation categorically opposed wording in the text submitted by Israel that referred to a state of the Jewish people.It was out of the question for us to accept this, he told AFP.Kouchner nevertheless hailed the inaugural summit of the union as a magnificent event, saying it was held against a backdrop of peace.Leaders agreed on a batch of modest projects such as cleaning up pollution in the Mediterranean Sea, improving shipping routes and developing solar energy.But the Middle East peace process loomed large over the gathering, with a flurry of meetings on the sidelines underscoring the need for progress.

Israel's Olmert says peace deal closer than ever By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 13, 1:39 PM ET

PARIS - Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians have never been closer to making peace — even as a widening corruption probe brings him closer than ever to being ousted from office. To help build confidence between the two sides, Olmert agreed in a one-on-one meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, an Israeli official said.Abbas, who met with Olmert at the French presidential palace ahead of a summit of European, Middle Eastern and African leaders, also sounded a positive note about the troubled peace talks, saying both sides were serious and want to achieve peace.The two men met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before sitting down together one-on-one.We have never been as close to a possible (peace) agreement as we are today, Olmert told reporters before the three leaders entered their meeting.Repeated rounds of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks since a peace conference in Annapolis, Md., last year have produced little change on the ground.Israel has continued its contentious construction of homes on lands the Palestinians want for a future state, and has done little to scale back a network of roadblocks in the West Bank that hinder Palestinian movement and have severely handicapped prospects for the Palestinian economy.Israel, meanwhile, says Abbas hasn't done enough to curb militants bent on attacking Israel, and the Palestinian president remains powerless against Hamas militants who wrested control of the Gaza Strip last year. Abbas rules only the West Bank, but Israel says no peace deal could be implemented as long as Hamas holds sway in Gaza.

Despite the troubles on both sides, the atmosphere was friendly when Olmert and Abbas posed on the steps of the Elysee Palace with Sarkozy in the center. Olmert and Abbas each rested an arm on the other's back.After the meeting, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said Israel was committed to try to reach a historic agreement by the end of this year. Such an agreement, he said, would outline what a two-state solution would look like.That's a far less ambitious aim than the original objective set at the U.S.-hosted conference of reaching a detailed final deal by December.As a gesture to Abbas, Olmert agreed in principle to release some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners it holds, Regev said.Because many Palestinian families have members in Israeli jails, prisoner releases are of paramount importance to the Palestinian people. Previous releases designed to bolster Abbas' standing among the Palestinian people haven't satisfied the Palestinians, because they have numbered in the dozens or hundreds.Regev had no details on how many prisoners would be released or when, adding only that these prisoners would be separate from any freed as part of any prisoner swap for captured Israelis.Israel plans on Wednesday to free five Lebanese prisoners in exchange for two soldiers captured by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006. The soldiers are believed to have been killed during or shortly after their capture, which touched off a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah.In addition, Gaza's Hamas rulers have demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Schalit, an Israeli sergeant with French citizenship whose release Sarkozy has urged.

Talks on Schalit's release are to be stepped up as part of a rocky truce Israel reached with Gaza militants last month.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed that Olmert promised to review Abbas' request for a prisoner release very positively. He said the meeting — one of a series of get-togethers the two leaders hold every few weeks — was conducted in a good atmosphere.Asked to comment on Olmert's observation that the two sides were closer than ever to clinching a deal, Erekat replied, We are having serious, in-depth negotiations on all issues.The main issues that have tormented peace talks for years have been the final borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state, the status of disputed Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the Arab war on Israel that followed the Jewish state's creation in 1948. Erekat said peace talks weren't affected by Olmert's domestic troubles. On Friday, police announced that a corruption probe of Olmert had branched out into a new direction, and that the prime minister was suspected of billing multiple sources for identical trips, and pocketing the difference. In May, Olmert saw his political fortunes plunge when a Jewish-American businessman testified in a Jerusalem court that he gave the Israeli leader hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash before he became prime minister in 2006 — testimony that has raised suspicions of influence peddling. Some of the money, businessman Morris Talansky claimed, bankrolled Olmert's lavish tastes in cigars, pens and travel. Olmert's lawyers are to cross-examine Talansky this week, but Israeli political commentators have predicted that Olmert will not be able to survive the latest allegations against him. Olmert has denied wrongdoing and promised to resign if indicted, but in the meantime, rivals in his governing Kadima Party are working on holding primaries in September to replace him as party leader.

Under Israel's political system, the leader of the governing party usually serves as prime minister.