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Israel will not budge until gunmen found

"Had [the Sunday night attack] happened in Gaza, we would have run after these people and put them in jail. But in the West Bank we don't have yet a real security presence."

Nabil Shaath, Palestinian foreign minister

The "road map" peace plan hit a rough patch after Israel reacted to a Palestinian shooting attack by stopping the process of transferring control of West Bank towns to Palestinian security. A summit set for today between the Israeli and Palestinian premiers was apparently derailed.

Also Monday, Israel listed hundreds of prisoners it planned to release, but Palestinians, angry because it didn't list all the detainees they wanted freed, called off a summit between Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli media reported.

The reports said Sharon also called off the meeting, set for today, because of the ambush. Officials from both sides were not immediately available for comment.

The two last met on July 20, before their separate talks with US President George W. Bush in Washington, and said then that they would meet again afterward.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Monday that Israel would not hand over control of any more towns until the Palestinians apprehend the gunmen who ambushed an Israeli car near Jerusalem on Sunday, badly wounding a mother and daughter and slightly injuring her two other children.

The attack took place near Bethlehem, the first town that reverted to Palestinian control last month under terms of the US-backed peace plan.

"Until we see how they operate in Bethlehem, we at this time will not hand over to them additional cities," Mofaz said. "I expect to see results in terms of their activities against [the] attackers."

Militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group affiliated with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility. The group is composed of loosely linked bands of militants throughout the West Bank.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath condemned the Sunday night attack, but added that his government's forces were too weak to be immediately effective in the West Bank.

"Had these things happened in Gaza, we would have run after these people and put them in jail. But in the West Bank we don't have yet a real security presence to prosecute violators," he said.

The new Israeli condition stepped up pressure on the Abbas to move against the militants, as required by the peace plan.

However, Abbas is hesitant to order a confrontation, fearing a civil war. Instead, he prefers to negotiate an end to nearly three years of violence. A unilateral ceasefire, called by the three main Palestinian groups on June 29, was the result of such talks.

Today, Israel is to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. On Monday the government published a list of 342 security prisoners it plans to free, a legal step to give opponents a chance to appeal against the release to Israel's Supreme Court. Several such appeals are in the works, and that could keep some of the prisoners behind bars, at least for now.

Also, Israel plans to release 97 Palestinians jailed for criminal offenses.

The prisoners to be freed include members of Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Palestinians have been pressing for the release, though it is not part of the road map. The Palestinians want to see thousands of prisoners freed; Israel has agreed to release a few hundred of the 7,700 it holds.

Arafat said the limited release announced Monday was inadequate.

"They say they are going to release 400, and then they turn around and arrest 800," Arafat told reporters at his Ramallah compound, citing a number for recent arrests that could not be confirmed.

"What is this? Deception?" he said.

In another development, Israel is considering a sweeping change in the route of its planned security barrier along the West Bank because of US pressure and Palestinian complaints, leaving most Jewish settlements on the Palestinian side, according to security officials.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said planners are considering building the barrier instead close to the 1967 line, excluding large Jewish settlements like Ariel, where about 18,000 Israelis live, in the center of the West Bank.

Palestinians had complained that by including Ariel and other settlements on the Israeli side, Israel was cutting deep into the West Bank. Palestinians claim the whole territory for a state.

In talks in Washington last week, Sharon heard US concerns that despite Israeli declarations that the barrier would be only a security device to keep Palestinian attackers out, the route of the barrier would be perceived as a political border, pre-empting negotiations.
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