OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, July 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ended talks Sunday, July 20, with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas in his official residence in West Jerusalem, according to a senior Israeli source.

There was no official word on the outcome of the afternoon meeting where Abbas was expected to demand commitments from the Israelis on the issue of prisoner releases, troop withdrawals, a lifting of checkpoints and an end to the siege on Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Sharon, for his part, was expected to exert new pressure on Abbas for Palestinian security services to "dismantle and disarm terror organizations," sources had said earlier.

The meeting was the first step in an intensive round of diplomacy for the Palestinian Premier which will take him to Jordan and Egypt before he arrives in Washington for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush Friday, Agence France- Presse (AFP) reported.

Abbas will be accompanied at the talks with Sharon - due to take place after the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting - by his Security Minister Mohammad Dahlan, Prisoners Affairs Minister Hisham Abdelrazaq and Information Minister Nabil Amr.

The Palestinian cabinet, which met in Ramallah Saturday evening, called for announcements from the Israelis on the issue of prisoner releases, troop withdrawals, a lifting of checkpoints and an end to the siege on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

The cabinet "expects decisions from the Israeli government on prisoner releases, on an end to the dividing wall between the West Bank and Israel, and a freeze on settlement building", it said in a statement after the meeting.

Abbas is desperate for a change in Israeli attitudes to strengthen his position

Abbas is under pressure from members of his own Fatah faction as well as resistance groups to secure the release of an estimated 6,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, AFP reported.

Sharon's government has so far approved the release of just 350 detainees.

Abbas' success in making progress on the prisoners issue and withdrawals is seen as essential for him to win backing at home for his “moderate approach”.

Meanwhile, Sharon is expected to try to bolster Abbas' position by approving the release of around 50 members of the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad who have not been implicated in attacks which resulted in Israeli casualties.

A report in the Jerusalem Post Sunday quoted senior Israeli diplomatic sources who said members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad's "civic branches" would be freed.

Both organisations announced a three-month halt to anti-Israeli attacks on June 29 but attached a raft of conditions, including the release of all Palestinian prisoners.

However, the Israeli source said that "the (Israeli) interministerial commission responsible for this matter will meet and make a decision" after the Sharon-Abbas talks.

The official confirmed that prisoners with "blood on their hands" would not be freed but refused to comment on the possible release of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members.

Abbas, who is spearheading Palestinian negotiations after Israel and the U.S. refused to deal with Arafat, is expected to use his visit to Washington to press for concessions from Israel on these issues.

So far, Israel has only withdrawn from the West Bank town of Bethlehem and most of the Gaza Strip.

Arafat Decree Forbids Incitement To Violence

Releasing Haidar Irsheed illustrates the authority Arafat still wields

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat published a decree Sunday forbidding "incitement to violence," and "incitement to violate agreements contracted by the Palestine Liberation Organization" (PLO).

"Any person committing any of the above acts will be prosecuted according to the law," said the text of the decree published by the official Wafa news agency.

The decree bans "incitement to racial discrimination, encouraging unlawful acts of violence or resorting to violence, or incitement to resort to violence in relations with brotherly countries and foreign countries".

It also prohibits "incitement to (commit) crimes, kill, agitate crowds to use unlawful force (and) incitement to national division".

Sunday's decree comes some six weeks after the formal launch of the U.S.-backed "roadmap" for peace which obliges both the Palestinians and Israelis to work to end incitement.

Entitled "Strengthening National Unity and Forbidding Incitement", it is similar to one released by Arafat in 1998 at a time when the peace process launched by the 1993 Oslo Agreement with Israel was still on track.

The Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament) is to draw up legislation to enshrine the new decree which comes into effect immediately.

By issuing the decree, Arafat is proving and reinforcing his influence over Palestinians despite Israeli and U.S. desperate attempts to dump him.

Arafat's continued influence became apparent late Saturday when the governor of Jenin, kidnapped by members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, was freed after the Palestinian Authority president's intervention.

Haidar Irsheed had been dragged from his home, beaten up in the street and then abducted in broad daylight, witnesses said.

Zacharia Zubeidi, local head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said that Irsheed had been freed after "President Arafat personally telephoned us."

Although, the release illustrates the authority of Mr. Arafat still wields , Sharon's government is trying to persuade European countries to follow the United States in dumping Arafat and talking only to Abbas, but has so far had little success.