Olmert promises to release prisoners for Ramadan
Prime minister meets with Palestinian president, but leaders do not discuss number of prisoners to be released. Israel also promises to ease restrictions on Palestinians' movement in West Bank
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Monday that they wanted "to contribute to the success of the planned international meeting."
The two leaders, who met in Jerusalem, also stressed their commitment for a two-state solution and decided to appoint teams to advance this goal.
Official sources in Jerusalem said that the Israeli team would include two representatives from the Prime Minister's Office, a representative from the Foreign Ministry and another representative from the Defense Ministry.
Olmert and Abbas are expected to meet again in two weeks, before the Palestinian president attends the United Nations General Assembly Session on September 25.
Olmert, Abbas, Fayyad in Jerusalem on Monday (Photo: GPO)
Abbas asked Olmert during the meeting to release Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture for the holiday of Ramadan. The prime minister promised to release prisoners to the West Bank and Gaza, but the leaders did not discuss the number of prisoner to be released.
Olmert accepted a request made by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who also took part in the meeting, to send aid to security prisoners jailed in Israel, including food, drinks and cigarettes.
Fayyad spokes about his role in building the Palestinian Authority's security and civil organizations, and the future relations between the two governments.
The Palestinians also asked for future security cooperation, and Israel said it would look into this request.
Olmert said that he shared the Palestinians' need to increase the freedom of movement in the West Bank. He promised that the freedom of movement would be felt after the Defense Ministry receives a plan aimed at solving the issue.
The plan for boosting the movement between Palestinian cities is expected to be submitted to the prime minister on Sunday.
