Nazir Majally • Asharq Al-Awsat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 4 August 2003 — Israel’s Cabinet late yesterday approved the release of another 442 Palestinian prisoners, in addition to the 540 prisoners already lined up to be freed, Israeli public radio reported.

It said the first wave of releases would start Wednesday, with administrative detainees, security prisoners, illegal workers and criminals making up the new list.

It did not specify whether any were from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and Israeli officials were not immediately available to confirm the report. A row over the 18, who were arrested Saturday at the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and were to have been transferred to Jericho or the Gaza Strip, prompted a hard-line Palestinian group to threaten to end its suspension of anti-Israeli attacks.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for a gun attack yesterday on a car in southern Jerusalem that wounded an Israeli woman and her three children.

But Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades had earlier issued a statement yesterday saying it remained committed to the truce. Fourteen of the group in Ramallah are Brigades members.

“We confirm that we are committed to the cease-fire with the Zionist enemy,” the group said in a faxed statement.

The Israeli government has urged the Palestinians to crack down on militant groups such as the Brigades, insisting that a cease-fire announced by the main militant groups on June 29 was insufficient.

But Palestinian minister of state without portfolio Abdelfatah Hamayel said: “It’s been decided that they (the 18) will not be transferred to Jericho or Gaza”.

Instead the leadership was seeking “international guarantees” that the detainees, along with the rest of the “hundreds of wanted Palestinians” would not be targeted by Israeli attacks.

Shortly before Sharon’s July 29 meeting with US President George W. Bush, Israel announced it would free around 540 prisoners, including 210 members of Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The Palestinians have been pushing for the release of all their estimated 6,000 prisoners in Israeli jails. The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported that the committee could now pave the way for the release of “hundreds” more prisoners in addition to the 540. The announcement that the first 540 prisoners would be freed was part of a package of measures unveiled by Israel ahead of the Bush-Sharon meeting which sought to give new momentum to a US-backed peace road map.

In a move designed to give the peace process a further boost, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met his Palestinian counterpart Nabil Shaath in Jerusalem for their first ever formal talks.