Quds city, Feb 6, SPA -- Israel on Sunday signaled it will consider freeing some Palestinian prisoners involved in attacks on Israelis, defusing a crisis with the Palestinian Authority ahead of a historic Mideast summit. Late Saturday, the two sides agreed to form a joint committee to review files of some additional prisoners (Israel had earlier announced a plan to release 900 prisoners), including those who were involved in attacks. The formation of the committee will be announced at the summit. The Palestinians want to have a say in which prisoners are released and seek freedom for large numbers of inmates, including those involved in attacks, said Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian Cabinet minister involved in the talks. Erekat said among the first candidates for release should be those jailed before 1993, when Israel and the PLO signed a mutual recognition accord. Hisham Abdel Razek, Palestinian Cabinet minister in charge of prisoner issues, said that if Israel will not ease its criteria for release, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, will not be able to persuade armed groups to halt attacks. "It will not allow him to succeed in the Palestinian street," Abdel Razel told Israel Army Radio. Israel's deputy defense minister, Zeev Boim, said Israel would not agree to a mass release, but also signaled flexibility. "We have to help Abu Mazen so there will be no finger pointing that Israel is to blame and torpedoed Abu Mazen when there is a second collapse," Boim told the radio. The committee will submit its recommendations at a second summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas, which could take place within the next month, Erekat said. In return, the Palestinians agreed not make the prisoners "an issue at the summit," the Israeli official said. The upcoming summit _ hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak _ will be the first time Sharon and Abbas meet since the latter was elected to succeed Yasser Arafat in a Jan. 9 presidential election. Jordan's King Abdullah II will also participate. At Saturday's meeting, the sides also discussed a planned Israeli pullout from Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank, and how to deal with Palestinian fugitives, Erekat said.
