Israel's defense establishment recommends the government to refrain from making further goodwill gestures to Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas until after the U.S.-sponsored peace conference, local Jerusalem Post reported on Friday.
The goodwill gestures being considered pending a successful outcome to the peace summit include releasing more security prisoners, removing roadblocks and transferring additional territory and West Bank villages to PNA security control.
The government is also considering a freeze in settlement construction.
"There is no need to make concessions ahead of the summit," a senior security official was quoted by the paper as saying.
"The Palestinians will quickly forget what we gave them before the summit and it is important to create incentives for Abbas to make the summit work," he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced recently that he planed to release 400 security prisoners ahead of the peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in the United States later this month.
According to a senior official, the defense establishment is also examining the ramifications of a proposal being drafted to release several hundred prisoners per month after the Annapolis conference.
There are more than 10,000 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails. The releases would be dependent on a cessation of terrorism and a commitment by the freed prisoners not to return to terrorism.
"About 350 prisoners were released in two phases, on 20 July and 1 October, with a third phase now being contemplated," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
Source: Xinhua
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