By DPA
Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will seek the approval of his cabinet to free 250 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in a show of support for Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas.
The prisoners to be released will be those without "blood on their hands" – Israel's parlance for militants who have killed Israelis – and will have to commit not to take up arms again, the premier said Monday as he addressed a four-way summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Abbas also attended the summit.
The parley was aimed at jump-starting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and boosting Abbas and his new emergency government, which he formed after dissolving the Hamas-led cabinet in the wake of the Islamic movement's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip 10 days ago.
Although the summit produced no dramatic breakthrough – and Israeli officials at least had cautioned beforehand against undue optimism – observers said the importance of the summit lay in the symbolism of its participants gathering together to close ranks against Hamas.
Olmert said Israel recognised the new Palestinian government, led by internationally respected economist Salam Fayyad without representatives from Hamas, which wants Israel to be replaced with an Islamic state from the Mediterranean Sea to the river Jordan.
"The new government in the Palestinian Authority, which recognizes Israel's right to exist and a solution of two states for two peoples, which is ready to implement the agreements signed, one which eschews terror and violence as a means and a goal, and a government which has no members of terrorist organizations, is a government which we recognize," Olmert stated.
"An opportunity has arisen to advance the regional diplomatic process. I do not intend to let this opportunity pass us by," he said.
Israel would maintain continuous ties with Fayyad's government, he said, and he and Abbas would meet "at least once every two weeks in order to advance all the issues on our shared agenda".