Israel, which freed more than 600 Palestinians from prison last week, has no intention of meeting Palestinian demands for additional prisoner releases in the near future, say military and security sources.
In addition, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told the Cabinet this week that he has ruled out any pardons or reductions in prison sentences for Palestinians involved in terrorist attacks occurring after Sept. 13, when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the self-rule accord in Washington.
But PLO officials reportedly are expected to demand that Israel agree to a phased release of all Palestinian prisoners by April.
The demand is expected to be made during negotiations at the Sinai border town of Taba, where Israeli and Palestinian officials convened the fourth round of discussions on Monday.
Those discussions are seeking ways to implement the self-rule accord, which went into effect Oct. 13, when the talks began.
The PLO is also expected to demand that Israel allow all 1,600 Palestinians deported from the territories after 1967 to return by April, when Israel is scheduled to complete its withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.
Most of the spotlight in the Taba talks has fallen on the issue of the release of Palestinian prisoners, but this week the focus is on Israel’s military withdrawal from Gaza, on security ar rangements in the wake of the troop withdrawals, and on the transfer of civil authority to the Palestinians.
On Monday, Israeli delegates presented their plans for the withdrawal and redeployment of Israel Defense Force troops from Gaza.
Their plans reportedly met with the dissatisfaction of the Palestinians, who thought that even after the planned withdrawal the IDF presence near Gaza would be too high.
Israeli spokesman Ami Gluska told reporters that he could not divulge details of the planned withdrawal.
But he conceded that the Palestinians had expressed reservations about the plan and added that the Israeli delegation had made it clear the plan was negotiable.
A QUALIFIED CONDEMNATION
There is no agreement yet on the size of the autonomous area to be established around Jericho.
With the Palestinians seeking a wide swath of land around the town that will give them access to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, and with Israel attempting to limit the boundaries to the town itself, the issue promises to be one of the most contentious to arise at Taba.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian delegates in Taba denounced the recent spate of violence in the territories. But they reportedly steered clear of condemning specific acts of terrorism committed by the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement.
Tension and violence escalated in the administered territories over the weekend in the wake of the murder of a Jewish settler who was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen.
The settler, Chaim Mizrachi, was murdered after being kidnapped last Friday at a Palestinian chicken farm in the West Bank, where he apparently went to buy eggs.
His charred body was found the next day inside the trunk of his car, which had also been burned. Mizrachi was buried Sunday as the search for his murderers continued.
According to news reports here, most of the ministers speaking at Sunday’s weekly meeting of the Cabinet said the PLO must speak out more forcefully against the recent murders of Jews in the territories.
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