Olmert says committee to weigh prisoners issue soon

JERUSALEM, Dec 18 (Reuters) Israel and the Palestinians will set up a committee in the coming days to discuss the issue of prisoners, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today, which could help pave the way to restart peace talks.

''In the coming days we intend to set up a joint committee with the Palestinians to discuss the issue of prisoners ... to make it possible to move forward,'' Olmert told a joint news conference with Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Both sides have been working through Egyptian mediators on a possible prisoner swap for months, weighing the idea of freeing several hundred Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier being held in Gaza since June.

On several occasions since discussions began, a swap has seemed in the offing, only for renewed fighting between Israel and the Palestinians to scupper a deal.

The governing Palestinian Hamas movement said last week that the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, would not be freed unless Israel simultaneously released up to 1,000 long-serving Palestinian prisoners.

They have also demanded the release of a jailed senior Palestinian leader, Fatah lawmaker Marwan Barghouthi.

Israel has said it will only release prisoners after Shalit is freed.

Olmert said last month that he would be willing to free many prisoners, including those who had served lengthy terms, but stopped short of specifying a number.

Quizzed today about whether Barghouthi, a famed figure for many Palestinians who was jailed for life in 2002 for ordering deadly attacks, could be freed, Olmert demurred, saying it wasn't currently on the agenda.

''In a word, the release of a specific prisoner of this type is a long, drawn-out legal matter and as such, in my understanding, it is not on the agenda at the moment,'' he said.

Olmert also repeated that he planned to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ''soon'', but provided no details. Israeli and Palestinian officials have been trying to set up a first meeting between the two for weeks without success.

REUTERS PKS BST0107