Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he will order the release of 250 Palestinian Fatah members from Israeli prisons.
The announcement was made at a summit in Egypt where Israeli and Arab leaders came together in a show of support for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. The talks in Sharm el-Sheikh attended by Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan are the first since Hamas' violent take-over of Gaza earlier this month. The Israeli Prime Minister stated that he would not pass on the opportunity to promote the Middle East peace process. On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet decided to release the frozen tax funds to the Palestinian emergency government based in the West Bank.