TEL AVIV, 5 February 2005 — As the sides gear up for a crucial peace summit next Tuesday, the charged issue of Palestinian prisoners is causing a rift, not just between Israel and the Palestinians, but within the Israeli security establishment as well. While the Shin Bet internal security organization believes Israel is too lenient, the Israeli Army believes that Israel’s decision to free 900 detainees is insufficient.

A senior Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday, accused the Shin Bet of acting according to “unbending” and “dated” criteria. Israel must learn from the past, take this historic opportunity and give new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a chance to end the armed struggle against Israel, the official told Israel Radio.

But the Shin Bet warned against taking unjustified risks. Almost 9,000 Palestinian militants and activists are currently behind Israeli bars. Half of them are held by the Israel Prisons Authority and half by the army. Abbas last week demanded the release of 8,000 of them — virtually all — but Israeli officials called such figures “fantasy”. The Palestinian leader sees a massive release of prisoners, along with other humanitarian measures, as the key to winning public support for his efforts to end violence and enable a return to peace negotiations.

Many Palestinians know at least one person, whether a close or distant family member, a friend or acquaintance, who is in jail. The matter is therefore close to their hearts. But it is also a highly emotional and sensitive issue in Israel, because a large part of the prisoners have been locked up for involvement in attacks in which Israelis were killed and injured — or, in Israeli parlance, have “blood on their hands”.

The question whether to include such prisoners in the release is therefore at the centER of the Israeli rift. About 70 percent of the 4,500 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails have “blood on their hands”, Prisons Authority Spokesman Ofer Lefler told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. These include those who carried out the attack, those who masterminded them and those who dispatched the attackers, he said.

The remaining 30 percent are jailed for other security-related offences, such as membership in the armed wings of the radical Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements.

The Israeli Army, which holds 4,428 Palestinians, has none defined as prisoners “with blood on their hands”, military sources said.

Israeli dailies Friday reported a heated discussion between Army Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon and Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter at a meeting of ministers and security officials held Thursday to approve a package of confidence-building measures ahead of next Tuesday’s summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm a-Sheikh.

“The Shin Bet’s position is unequivocal. It is absolutely forbidden to do this,” the Ma’ariv newspaper quoted Dichter as arguing regarding the release of prisoners who killed Israelis. “We have checked this. It has transpired that one out of seven prisoners who were freed in the past returned to terrorist activity,” he said.

“We are making concessions too quickly. We must act with caution,” he said. “We are investing tremendous energy in capturing these people. We cannot stop pursuing these wanted militants.” But Ya’alon argued that Israel could afford to free prisoners in their 60s or 70s, who killed Israelis 20 years ago — before the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords — but now supported the peace process.

The Palestinians have asked for 233 such prisoners to be included in the release, Israel Radio reported Friday. Ya’alon argued that Israel was about to free young Hamas members who “may not have blood on their hands” but were liable to return to militant activities, while holding veteran Fatah members “who murdered Israelis but will not go back to acting against us”.

“What sense is there in that?” the Yediot Ahronot daily quoted him as saying. Sharon decided the dispute by vowing that Israel would not release Palestinians “with blood on their hands”, except for very old or sick prisoners who would be checked in each case on their own merits. Palestinians reacted Friday with disappointment at Israel’s offer, accusing Israel of “dictating”, rather than discussing, it. But a Sharon aide called the accusation “an audacity”.

“You have not yet arrested one terrorist or collected one weapon. As a start this is a very generous offer,” he told the Palestinians.