BTW...do you get the feeling there the two sides are really going in OPPOSITE directions
Read the bold bits....
Israel releases 400 Palestinians By Nasser Abu Bakr in the West Bank June 02, 2005 From: Agence France-Presse ISRAEL has released 400 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to bolster Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and fulfil a pledge made in February.
The gesture came Mr Abbas, 70, underwent "routine" medical tests including a heart examination in Amman at the end of a marathon overseas tour. "I am in good health," Mr Abbas said afterwards.
In the West Bank, hundreds of freed Palestinians were welcomed by friends and relatives as heroes after being bused to four drop-off points near the cities of Hebron, Tulkarem, Ramallah and Jenin.
At Beitunia, east of Ramallah, 77 prisoners were welcomed by delighted relatives and well-wishers, waving flags and holding up pictures of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The crowd burst into songs lauding Arafat, who died last November, and the thousands of Palestinian detainees who remain in Israeli custody.
Approving the releases on Sunday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the move was necessary to "strengthen the moderate elements within the Palestinian Authority" and to respect commitments made at a February peace summit to release a total of 900 prisoners.
Palestinian officials have slammed the move as inadequate, as negotiators continue to press for the release of long-term detainees.
Israel has so far refused to free anyone involved in deadly attacks – those with "blood on their hands.
The army said a total of 398 prisoners were being freed, while two Palestinian lined up for release had refused to leave their cells for undisclosed reasons.
Israel's Supreme Court yesterday rejected appeals from various Israeli extreme right groups protesting against the prospective releases.
But the chairman of the parliamentary defence and foreign affairs committee, Youval Steinitz, said the move was ridiculous.
"It is absurd.," Mr Steinitz, an MP from Mr Sharon's right-wing Likud party, said.
"The Palestinians are plotting suicide attacks and we are releasing prisoners."
Israeli police meanwhile said they had arrested two Palestinian would-be suicide bombers planning a double attack on Jerusalem.
Ministers approved the releases on Sunday, nearly four months after the February summit between Messrs Abbas and Sharon.
An initial batch of 500 prisoners were freed in the weeks after the summit, but the process was quickly frozen following a February 25 Palestinian suicide attack in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis.
Israel has stalled promised security transfers in the West Bank, repeatedly accusing the Palestinian Authority of failing to stop attacks and dismantle armed groups.
Mr Sharon announced he would reactivate the releases ahead of landmark talks between Mr Abbas and US President George W. Bush in Washington last week, and amid a spike in violence threatening a de facto truce in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli and Palestinian officials are preparing for another Abbas-Sharon summit on June 21, which Mr Sharon's office said had been agreed during top-level talks yesterday.
Palestinians have criticised the releases for falling well short of demands for up to 5000 of the estimated 7600 inmates to be freed.
"This decision is not enough," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said, reacting to the Cabinet approval of the additional releases.
Mr Abbas was meanwhile set to the territories after recuperating from his medical examinations in Jordan yesterday.
Militant groups, which have observed a de facto truce since late January, had made their cool-down conditional on the release of all Palestinians held in Israel and a halt to Israeli military operations.
