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| Israel agrees to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners |
| CCTV.COM 2003-08-04 08:08:44 |
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Israel has promised to begin releasing several hundred Palestinian prisoners within days. The issue was discussed at a cabinet meeting chaired by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Also on Sunday, at the Israeli－Palestinian foreign ministers meeting in Jerusalem, the Israeli foreign minister rejected a proposal for a permanent cease－fire. The two foreign ministers met to discuss progress on the road map peace plan, which aims to end violence in the troubled region.
After talks at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Silvan Shalom and his Palestinian counterpart Nabil Shaath gave a joint press conference where they reaffirmed their commitment to the peace process.
Shalom said, "We stand here together not because we agree on every issue, actually, we do not. We do agree however on the need to work together to resolve our differences and to send to our peoples a message of tolerance and reconciliation after so many months and years of bloodshed and suffering."
Shaath said that resolving Israeli－Palestinian differences could be achieved through hard work.
"We hope through these meetings we can set the ground for a productive dialogue that would lead to a just peace between our two peoples. Resolving our differences could be achieved through hard work and honest commitment," said Shaath
Also on Sunday in Nablus, Palestinians demonstrated against the arrest of some 20 militants from the headquarters of Arafat in Ramallah earlier on Saturday by the Palestinian National Authority.
The militants chanted slogans that they would never be committed to the hudna （ceasefire） and would continue their armed attacks against Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to release 540 Palestinian prisoners from among 6,000 being held in Israeli jails, but ruled out those accused of involvement in attacks in its citizens. The Palestinians want Israel to free them all.
Another main obstacle to the peace process is the security barrier being built by Israel to divide the country from the West Bank. Israel says the barrier is necessary to keep out suicide bombers, whereas Palestinians say it grabs land they want as part of their state.
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Editor: Yang Feiyang CCTV.com
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