Israeli PM offers to release 250 Fatah prisoners as goodwill gesture to Mahmoud Abbas at Sharm el-Sheik conference with three Arab rulers Monday

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak who hosted the conference Monday, June 25, pledged to work for the resumption of inter-factional dialogue between Fatah and Hamas.
debkafile notes: This was not what Ehud Olmert was aiming for. His gesture to Mahmoud Abbas favoring Fatah and rejecting a prisoner deal with Hamas indicated his disapproval of a reconciliation between the two Palestinian factions. Olmert much prefers a separation between Hamas-ruled Gaza and Fatah-government West Bank. On this point, the Israeli prime minister was at odds with all three Arab rulers, who all subscribed to the “unity of the Palestinian territories.”
Mubarak, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Ehud Olmert joined in recognizing the legitimacy of the emergency government Abbas established after Gaza fell to Hamas. Olmert pledged to release frozen tax funds to the West Bank government but also to continue the supply of essential services, electricity, water, food and medicines, to the Gaza population.
However, the audio tape released by Hamas, with the first sign of life from the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit while the four leaders were talking at the Red Sea resort, achieved its purpose of occupying center stage and stealing their show.