JERUSALEM, Feb 4 (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accused the Palestinians Friday of doing little to combat "terror" other than deploying troops in the Gaza Strip, adding a note of discord to a positive atmosphere ahead of next week's peace summit.
"The Palestinian side hasn't done a thing except to deploy its forces in Gaza before taking significant steps in the war on terror," Sharon said in a telephone conversation with his Norwegian counterpart Kjell Magne Bondevik, details of which were released by his office.
Any return to the troubled Middle East peace roadmap would only occur "after the Palestinians stop terror activities, break up the terror infrastructure and carry out governmental reforms," Sharon said.
His comments cut across the general mood of optimism permeating the region in the build-up to next week's peace summit, to be held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Tuesday's summit will be the first time Israeli and Palestinian leaders have met since 2000, and was the most tangible sign of progress in the peace process, since the launch of the peace roadmap in mid-2003.
Ahead of the summit, Israel said it was ready to "take risks" in its negotiations with the Palestinians.
"We are strong enough to take risks in negotiating with the Palestinians," Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told public radio.
"All our security officials believe important changes have taken place within the Palestinian Authority because it's the first time a Palestinian leader opposes terrorism," he added.
Abbas has publicly called for an end to the armed struggle against Israel while seeking to clinch a ceasefire deal with hardline militants.
"It's now up to them to prove that they are capable of implementing what they promised," Olmert said.
The one-day summit is widely expected to close with a mutual ceasefire declaration.
"This summit is very important and there is much hope that it will succeed in reviving the peace process and securing a mutual ceasefire and a withdrawal from Palestinian cities," Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
Israel's so-called kitchen cabinet on Thursday approved an Israeli pullback from five West Bank cities and the transfer of security control to the Palestinians.
It also approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners "with no blood on their hands" -- with the first 500 to be freed soon after the summit.
The move must be approved by the security cabinet, which also discussed several goodwill gestures Friday, among them a freeze on the pursuit of wanted militants, except for so-called "ticking bombs".
Despite the prisoner announcement, the Palestinians were disappointed at both the numbers and criteria, in particular because they had pushed for the release of those jailed before the 1993 Oslo accords.
They had also hoped to coordinate with Israel over the choice of detainees to be freed, but Israel refused.
"We asked from the Israeli side to from a joint committee to agree on the names of the prisoners to be released," Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat told AFP. "Israel has refused but we hope it will still give its agreement."
But a top Israeli official told AFP the Jewish state would go no further.
"We will change the criteria for freeing prisoners only when we see the Palestinians are undertaking irreversible measures against terrorists," he said.
Egypt and Israel are to sign an agreement next week allowing Egyptian guards to carry weapons along the border with Gaza for the first time since the two countries signed a 1979 peace treaty, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Israel handed over to the Palestinians the body of a militant shot dead by its troops in southern Gaza late Thursday.
The death raised to 4,727 the overall toll since the September 2000 outbreak of the intifada, including 3,672 Palestinians and 981 Israelis.
02/04/2005 16:50 GMT - AFP