Ariel Sharon yesterday cajoled his reluctant cabinet into agreeing to release more than 200 Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners in an attempt to stave off pressure for further concessions when he visits the White House tomorrow.

But Hamas warned that unless substantial numbers of the 1,000 jailed Islamists from the two organisations were freed it would not extend a three-month ceasefire which has seen a sharp decline in violence since the end of June.

A senior official accompanying Mr Sharon to Washington said Israel would free a total of 540 Palestinians. They would include 210 prisoners, divided almost evenly between Hamas and Islamic Jihad, 210 with links to Palestinian president Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, and 120 Palestinians jailed for criminal offences.

The official said the Islamist militants to be freed had not been jailed for involvement in attacks on Israelis. He said the release "should happen in the coming week".

The Israeli prime minister made a series of gestures that officials said were aimed at proving his goodwill ahead of the meeting with President George Bush, including an an nouncement that the army will negotiate a withdrawal from two other West Bank cities following the military's pullout from Bethlehem last month.

Mr Sharon also agreed to halt construction of the most controversial parts of the "security" wall along the West Bank, where it swings deep into the occupied territories to encircle Jewish settlements.

Mr Bush called it "a problem" for a peace deal after meeting the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, last week. The last-minute decision to free prisoners "who do not have blood on their hands" was made after Mr Sharon came under pressure from the US to bolster popular support for Mr Abbas.

Such support was always fragile but flagged further this month after the American-led "road map" to peace failed to produce real benefits for much of the Palestinian population.

"Mr Sharon managed to persuade the ministers of the importance of the seriousness of Mr Abbas's intentions and our need to strengthen him, and of showing President Bush that we really mean business and we are serious so we can concentrate on more significant issues," said a foreign ministry spokesman, Jonathan Peled.

Mr Sharon forced through the move with the backing of coalition partners in the non-religious Shinui party. Far-right ministers voted against the releases.

"Every terrorist that is freed will join the same terrorist infrastructure that hasn't been dismantled and is getting stronger," the agriculture minister, Israel Katz, said. But the vice-premier, Ehud Olmert, told Israel radio that freeing Hamas and Islamic Jihad members is "a risk we're willing to take".

Among the Hamas prisoners expected to be freed are members of its political wing on the West Bank who were sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.

The timing of the latest Israel moves has reinforced the Palestinian perception that Mr Sharon gives ground only under pressure, and that Mr Bush's personal involvement remains crucial to keeping the peace process moving.

Mr Abbas had urged the US president to confront Mr Sharon on a number of issues by saying that Palestinian public support for the road map was crumbling because ordinary people had seen few benefits for renouncing the armed intifada while Israel continued to expand settlements, occupy Palestinian towns and hold about 6,000 prisoners.

The Palestinians asked Mr Bush to put pressure on the Israelis to release thousands, not hundreds. They also told the Americans that the Israeli leader had failed to abide by his commitment to dismantle Jewish outposts in the West Bank and halt the expansion of established settlements.

Mr Abbas put a detailed case to Mr Bush against the 200-mile "security" fence and wall the Israelis are building the length of the West Bank, effectively annexing swaths of Palestinian land. After Mr Bush criticised the wall fol lowing his meeting with Mr Abbas, the Israelis quietly gave ground and said they would continue to construct it only where it does not intrude deep into the occupied territories.

"The separation wall is not a security wall," the Palestinian information minister, Nabil Amr, said. "It's only a security excuse to steal Palestinian land, and this is what we told the Americans. The American position is an important message to the Palestinians that the sacrifices of our people are being dealt with positively in the international arena."

The Israeli government is again pressing its demand that the Palestinian leadership meet a road map obligation to disarm and dismantle groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Mr Abbas has repeatedly re jected any such move, saying it would provoke a Palestinian civil war. "Cracking down on Hamas, Jihad and the Palestinian organisations is not an option," he said in Cairo this week.

But Mr Bush repeated to Mr Abbas that he had to "root out terrorism".

· Lebanon's radical Hizbullah group will resume capturing Israelis if Israel rejects "a last chance" to negotiate an exchange of prisoners, the group's leader said yesterday.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah was speaking at a rally in the southern Lebanese village of Jibsheet to commemorate the 13th anniversary of Israel's kidnapping of guerrilla leader Sheik Abdul-Karim Obeid.

(China Daily  July 28, 2003)