Jordan says Israel has agreed to release prisoners next week
IMRA | 4-1-05
Jordan says Israel has agreed to release prisoners next week
By The Associated Press Haaretz 1 April 2005
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/559958.htmlJordan's Foreign Ministry said Friday that Israel will release several Jordanian prisoners detained in Israeli prisons next week.
Jordanian officials have said more than 20 prisoners are in line to be released by Israel, a step that would crown the improving ties between both countries.
Officials at Israel's Foreign Ministry and embassy in Jordan could not confirm the prisoner release claims, but Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Rajab al-Sukayri said his government had been notified by Israel of imminent releases.
Al-Sukayri said the prisoners expected to be released would not include four Jordanians who Israel has accused of direct involvement in attacks that killed Israelis.
"But we hope they (the four) will be released in the near future," he said without revealing the total number of Jordanians he expected to be freed.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani al-Mulqi, who visited Israel early last month, has said 25 prisoners - including the four involved in deadly attacks - would be released.
Al-Sukayri said the prisoner releases will set the ground for an imminent visit to Jordan by Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
The prisoner issue was at the core of discussions between al-Mulqi and Israeli officials during his visit to Israel, the first by a Jordanian official in more than four years following the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.
Al-Mulqi has said Jordan's king, Abdullah II, is willing to make his first public visit to Israel in four years once confidence-building measures - particularly the release of Jordanian prisoners - take place. Abdullah last visited Israel on a secret trip in March 2004 to meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, according to Israeli media.
The foreign minister's visit to Israel follow Amman's return of its ambassador to Israel, another sign of the improving relations between both countries since a Feb. 8 summit in Egypt where the Palestinian and Israeli leaders pledged to end violence against both sides.
In 1994, Jordan became the second Arab country, after Egypt, to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Initially friendly relations soured after the Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 and Jordan withdrew its ambassador.