GAZA CITY, May 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Dealing a new blow to the already troubled peace process, Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon decided on Sunday, May 8, to put plans on releasing 400 Palestinian detainees on hold, drawing an angry rebuke from the Palestinians and Egypt.

“We cannot approve any measures that ease the lives of Palestinians so long as they are not doing their part,” Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Sharon as telling the weekly cabinet meeting.

The 400 Palestinian detainees were due to have been released as part of an agreement reached with Palestinian President Mahmmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) at a summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh three months ago.

An Israeli government spokesman claimed Sharon has taken the decision because “Abu Mazen has not taken any action to decapitate the terrorism which is continuing.”

He told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that “when the Palestinians start to respect the commitments they made at Sharm El-Sheikh we'll do something, but not before”.

Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued it was an inappropriate time to be even thinking of releasing Palestinian detainees.

Five hundred detainees were released in the immediate aftermath of the Sharm El-Sheikh summit.

Israel decided last week to freeze plans to transfer security responsibility in parts of the West Bank to the Palestinians.

As part of the agreements reached at Sharm El-Sheikh, responsibility for security was meant to be transferred from the Israeli occupation army to the Palestinian Authority in five West Bank towns.

The transfer has happened so far in the two towns of Jericho and Tulkaram.

“Something needs to be done, and this time by deeds and not by mere words, in order to stop the deterioration,” said Erekat.

Palestinians reacted furiously to Sharon’s decision, saying it would only serve to undermine the current truce.

“This decision is part of the Israeli obstacles to the implementation of the Sharm El-Sheikh understandings and will have a negative impact on the cool-down,” Palestinian Prisoner Affairs Minister Sufian Abu Zaydeh told AFP.

“It is clear that the Israelis have changed their position and gone back on the agreements reached at Sharm El-Sheikh,” he added.

Abu Zaydeh was due to discuss the release of detainees during a meeting later Sunday with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, said Sharon's stance showed Israel had frozen the implementation of confidence-building understandings reached in Sharm el-Sheikh.

“It's clear that the only thing that is not frozen is the continuation of settlement activities, the (West Bank) separation wall and non-compliance with a cessation of violence,” he told Reuters.

“Something needs to be done, and this time by deeds and not by mere words, in order to stop the deterioration.”

“We need to give the maximum support to Abbas and to avoid practices and measures likely to undermine his efforts” Abul Gheit said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit also expressed concern at the Israeli decision, reported AFP.

He had relayed his concerns to the four main players in the Middle East peace process -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- ahead of a planned meeting of the quartet in Moscow on Monday, May 9.

“I have told quartet members of Egypt's concern over the setbacks in the proper implementation of the arrangements agreed at Sharm al-Sheikh,” the top diplomat told reporters.

Israel's failure to go ahead with the confidence-building package “threatens the positive atmosphere which had reigned in the aftermath of the summit,” he warned.

“We need to give the maximum support to Abbas and to avoid practices and measures likely to undermine his efforts” to maintain an informal truce.

Abu Mazen has managed to persuade Palestinian resistance factions to observe a ceasefire until at the end of the year.

The Palestinians have consistently maintained that the release of large numbers of the estimated 8,000 detainees is fundamental to success in the peace process.

Thousands of Palestinians marked on April 17 the Prisoner Day with rallies across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, criticizing the Palestinian Authority for inaction on the pressing issue.