"We ought to look at the prisoner issue on a case by case basis," Bush

WASHINGTON, July 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Much to the frustration of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, U.S. President George W. Bush ruled out asking Israel to release all of the estimated 6,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails – a key demand of the visiting official.

"We ought to look at the prisoner issue on a case by case basis. Surely, nobody wants to let a cold-blooded killer out of prison that would help derail the process," Bush said.

The words did fall short of Abbas' expectations that Washington would ask Israel to turn away from its decision to release only hundreds of Palestinians and set free all of them "regardless of their political affiliations or geographic areas."

Israel agreed only to the release of 350 detainees with the exclusion of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, the stance which irked Palestinians hoping to see all detainees no longer behind bars.

Abbas told CNN on the eve of his meeting with Bush that he would call on the American president "to convince them to release the prisoners because this is an issue of high sensitivity to us."

Palestinian Prisoners affairs minister Hisham Abdelrazeq said before Abbas' meeting with Bush that the premier would urge Washington to persuade Israel to first agree in principle to the release of all the Palestinian detainees before then drawing up a schedule for their release.

"If America succeeds, there will be progress in the peace process but if they do not, the political process could be destroyed," Abdelrazeq said.

'Problem'

In the meanwhile, Bush slammed Israel's reconstruction of a security fence, saying it is a "problem" that makes confidence between the two conflicting sides "difficult".

"I think the wall is a problem and I've discussed that with (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon," Bush said in a joint news conference with visiting Abbas.

"It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank," Bush said in a controversial so-called separation wall between the West Bank and Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan shalom said after his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in the U.S. capital Thursday, July 24, that a "misunderstanding" is developing between the U.S. administration and Israel over the construction of security fence.

The fence loosely follows the 1967 Green Line division between Israel and the West Bank, but it dips deep into occupied Palestinian territory at several points under the pretext of protecting settlements.

It also leaves several Palestinian villages cut off from the rest of the West Bank.

The Palestinians accuse Israel of using the fence to unilaterally determine the borders of a future Palestinian state and of wanting to "ethnically cleanse" the West Bank with a de facto annexation of its most fertile regions.

Rebuffed

On his part, Abbas called on Israel to make greater efforts to address Palestinian concerns on freeing detainees and Jewish settlements.

"We continue to negotiate with Israel on the implementation of its obligations. Some progress has been made," Abbas said.

"But movement needs to be made in terms of freeing prisoners, lifting the siege on President Arafat, Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas and easing up freedom of movement to Palestinians."

Bush also said he would send Treasury Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans to the Middle East later this year to discuss how to build and finance a Palestinian state.