Palestinians blast Israeli refusal to release Jihad, Hamas prisoners

The commission gave the green light to the release of 350 Palestinians who had been on a list drawn up by the Israeli domestic intelligence service Shin Beth, public radio reported.

But the commission also decided that the government should review a dossier which included 100 other detainees "belonging to terrorist organisations" that the government had suggested be freed, army radio added.

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Israel regards groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terrorist organisations. Both agreed on June 29 to a three-month halt to anti-Israeli attacks but a raft of conditions was attached to the truce, including the release of all the estimated 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

It had been expected that the commission, which was chaired by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, would wave through the list of 450 names, including members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were not implicated in attacks which led to Israeli casualties.

The Palestinian minister for prisoners' affairs said Wednesday that Israel's refusal to release Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners would "lead the political process to a dead-end."

"We have entered a huge political crisis with the Israeli side and this decision will lead the political process to a dead-end," Hisham Abdelrazzaq told AFP.

The prisoners issue has become one of the major sticking points between the two sides with the Palestinians growing increasingly frustrated by Israel's refusal not to release more detainees.

Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas, who has faced heavy internal criticism over his failure to persuade the Israelis to give more ground, is due to hold talks with US President George W. Bush in Washington on Friday.

Speaking before news emerged of the outcome of the ministerial commission, Palestinian information minister Nabil Amr appeared to soften demands that all 6,000 prisoners be freed.

"The Palestinians require a huge number of our prisoners to be released but not according to Israeli classifications," he told reporters.

Amr said that the Palestinians would look to the US to exert pressure on Israel over the prisoners issue.

"If there is no progress in this important visit to Washington we can be sure that Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas will face a tough situation among the Palestinian people and the Legislative Council (the Palestinian parliament)," he added.

"He (Abbas) will have to inform the Legislative Council of his achievements on the political level but until now we don't have significant results to convince the (parliament) that we have succeeded in our mission."

Abbas is spearheading the Palestinians' talks in the peace process after the US and Israel both refused to deal with Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat, whom they accuse of trying to undermine his prime minister.