Israel to stop hunting scores of Fatah militants

JERUSALEM, July 15 (Reuters) Israel today agreed to stop hunting 180 wanted Fatah militants who pledge to end attacks against the Jewish state, as part of a US-led effort to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

At Palestinian security compounds in the West Bank, scores of militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Abbas's secular Fatah faction, began signing written pledges forswearing violence. Some of the militants turned in weapons.

"I want to live a normal life without Israeli assassinations and arrests," one of the al-Aqsa leaders, Monif al-Rimawi, said after he and about 35 other wanted militants signed the pledges in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to meet Abbas tomorrow, most likely in Jerusalem, to discuss the amnesty programme and other Israeli gestures, Israeli officials said.

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said a meeting was possible tomorrow but has yet to be confirmed.

Washington wants Olmert to jumpstart long-stalled peace talks through Abbas after Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last month, but Israel has so far balked at discussing final status issues like the fate of Jerusalem, borders and Palestinian refugees.

Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said Israel agreed on a list of 180 wanted Palestinians who have "deactivated themselves as terrorists,... are going to hand down their arms, and, as part of the new developing security relationship, Israel will not pursue them any more".

Avi Dichter, Israel's internal security minister, said "This is not a concession but an attempt to change the atmosphere. If unfortunately we are proven wrong, we can turn back the wheels." In addition to the reprieve for Fatah militants, Israel said it agreed to Abbas's request to allow Nayef Hawatmeh, the Damascus-based leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and Farouk Kaddoumi, an exiled hardliner living in Tunis, to enter the occupied West Bank.

Israeli officials said their goal was to strengthen Abbas and the government he formed last month in the West Bank to replace a cabinet led by Hamas Islamists who won 2006 elections.

Eisin said Israel would also give Abbas a final list of 250 prisoners who will be released from Israeli jails. The vast majority of the prisoners are from Fatah, but some will come from other non-Islamist groups, including Hawatmeh's DFLP.

Eisin said all 250 militants have at least a year left on their sentences. Cabinet minister Isaac Herzog described the gestures as politically "difficult" for Israel, but added "Nonetheless we will do it." SIGN COMMITMENTS In the West Bank city of Nablus, Preventive Security chief Akram Rajoub said Palestinians on the Israeli list signed a document in which they committed not to carry out any more attacks. Some of them turned in guns and weapons, he said.

"I don't trust the Israelis," said Zakaria Zbeideh, al-Aqsa's leader in Jenin who was on the list. "But I am committed to the Palestinian political decision and I want to give the Palestinian government a chance." Not all of the militants agreed to sign the pledge. Ala Sanakreh, an al-Aqsa leader near Nablus, said he refused because his brother was excluded. "As long as the pardon does not include my younger brother, Ahmed, how can I benefit?" he asked.

Salam Fayyad, whom Abbas named prime minister last month, has pledged to crack down on militants in the West Bank but said success hinged on Israel agreeing to stop hunting the gunmen.

Abbas asked Israel to let Hawatmeh and Kaddoumi into the West Bank so they could attend a meeting on Wednesday of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's Legislative Council, which functions as an internal parliament. Hawatmeh's DFLP carried out attacks against Israel in the 1970s.

(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Ari Rabinovitch and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Mohammed Assadi and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Atef Sa'ad in Nablus) REUTERS SM RN1818