Sharon arrives in US for toughest talks

A woman, carrying a heavy load on her head, passes by an Israeli soldier (R) checking Palestinians at the Hawara checkpoint south of the West Bank town of Nablus on Monday. Israel made more conciliatory gestures to the Palestinians as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived in the United States for probably his toughest talks yet with US President George W. Bush. Photo: AFP

Israel announced Sunday night that it would release 540 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, including 210 members of the hardline Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

Only a fraction of them are held for security-related offenses, and although Palestinian militant leaders described the move as insufficient, Israel has softened its initial stance that no Islamists would be freed.

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The level of violence has substantially receded since four major Palestinian groups declared a suspension of anti-Israeli attacks a month ago, but the armed movements have repeatedly threatened to drop their truce unless all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners are released.

In what could be seen as another gesture to appease Washington ahead of Tuesday's talks between Sharon and Bush, the Israeli army said Monday it had dismantled a settlement outpost in the southern West Bank overnight.

Four hilltop tents near the city of Hebron were removed and two settlers resisting their evacuation were arrested by police, the army said.

The roadmap for peace, which Washington has helped to draft, calls for all settlement outposts built since Sharon came to power in March 2001 to be removed.

Yet Israel has fallen far behind schedule on that chapter of the blueprint, and the anti-settlement organization Peace Now claims that more wildcat settlements have been set up than dismantled over the past three months.

As part of its package of conciliatory steps, Israel also announced Sunday a series of measures to loosen the stranglehold on the civilian population in the Palestinian territories.

The Israeli army has started lifting several major checkpoints which were set up between Palestinian cities as a result of Operation Defensive Shield, launched in the spring of 2002.

Military sources explained that the move was designed to restore some level of freedom of movement in the West Bank and "revive the Palestinian economy", stressing that Israel was running a significant security risk by scaling down its set-up.

Israel has also granted thousands of new work permits for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to work in Israel.

In addition, the government announced over the weekend that it was considering handing over security control in two other West Bank cities it reoccupied last year.

Israeli troops redeployed a month ago around the Gaza Strip and the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, where Palestinian security services took over policing duties, in line with the roadmap for peace.

As Washington was struggling to kickstart the implementation of the plan, three days after Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas had his first talks at the White House, the situation nevertheless remained tense on the ground.