Olmert to PA: Release captured soldier, and we will free many jailed Palestinians
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday 27th January that the release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, held since June by Gaza militants, would lead to the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
"With Gilad Shalit's release and his return safe and sound to his family, the Israeli government will be willing to release many Palestinian prisoners, even those who have been sentenced to lengthy terms," Olmert said.
The prime minister, speaking at the grave of Israel's first premier, David Ben-Gurion, in Sde Boker, said that he was extending his hand in peace to the Palestinians, and that he hoped his offer would not remain unanswered.
"I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbors in the hope that it won't be returned empty," Olmert said.
"We cannot change the past and we will not be able to bring back the victims on both sides of the borders," he said. "All that we can do today is stop additional tragedies."
He called on the Palestinians to renounce violence and give up the insistence on the refugees' right of return to territory within Israel's borders, which has long been a major sticking point in peace negotiations.
"You, the Palestinian nation in the east and west... stand at the crossroads of a historic declaration," he said.
If the Palestinians did decide to choose peace talks, Olmert promised, Israel would quit large swathes of the West Bank, ease checkpoints and release frozen funds to Palestinians.
"We will agree to leave large territories and dismantle settlements that we established," he said. "We will be willing to do this in exchange for real peace."
Israeli officials denied the possibility of a summit between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Olmert on the sidelines of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to neighboring Jordan later this week. Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said the sides were discussing when the leaders would meet, but no date had been set.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians were ready to negotiate a final peace deal.
"I believe Mr. Olmert knows he has a partner, and that is President Abbas. He knows that to achieve peace and security for all, we need to shoot for the end game," Erekat said.
As a first step, Erekat said, the two sides need to sustain the fragile cease-fire along the Israel-Gaza border and also extend it to the West Bank.
"That will open the key to a political horizon," he said.
By Avi Issacharoff, Aluf Benn, Jack Khoury and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies