Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

JERUSALEM (AP):

Israel said yesterday it will free 250 Palestinian prisoners this week, the latest step in its efforts to strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his stand-off against Hamas militants.

Israel announced the planned release after a summit between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas. Both sides described the talks as positive Palestinians urged Israel to take bigger steps toward restarting peace talks.

Olmert and Abbas met a few hours before United States President George W. Bush delivered an address on the Mideast, calling an international conference in the fall to restart stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and pledging additional aid for the Palestinians. He also called on Palestinians to choose Abbas over Hamas.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called his remarks "a new crusade by Bush against the Palestinian people" and appealed to the Arab world to confront it.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokes-man Mark Regev welcomed Bush's call for a Palestinian state. "We want the Palestinian people to understand that through negotiations and dialogue, they can obtain their national aspirations, while the path of terrorism and violence can only bring more death and destruction," Regev said.

Nabil Amr, political adviser to Abbas, said the speech marked a "significant change" in dealing with the Palestinians. "We welcome the call for an Israeli-Arab conference, and we will be willing to make this conference successful," he said.

On the issue of the prisoner release, Olmert aide Jacob Galanti said the list of prisoners would be published Tuesday and the release would take place Friday.