ISRAEL - Sept 20 - Olmert Will Free Palestinian Prisoners.

PM Ehud Olmert says that he will bring a proposal to his cabinet next week to free some Palestinian prisoners, and he pledged to work with Mahmoud Abbas on agreements toward ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Olmert also said that Iran was "the main threat to Israel". Speaking at a gathering of his Kadima Party, Olmert did not say how many prisoners would be freed. He said they would not have "blood on their hands", meaning direct involvement in attacks against Israelis. He also said they must "identify with the present Palestinian government and pledge to reject terror". "This is the only way to signal to the whole of Palestinian society that only the path of negotiations, peace and acceptance can bring results", he said. Olmert said Israel must seek ways to deal with the Abbas, whom he praised as "a moderate". Olmert pledged to continue regular meetings with Abbas "in order to reach political understandings". "There are drawbacks", Olmert said, "and it is always possible to say no. Now we must look for opportunities to say yes". Olmert also mentioned the Mideast peace conference that President George W. Bush is organizing for November. "It is important that moderate countries like Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia take part in the meeting", Olmert said. He spoke just after the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. She said the Mideast conference must have a substantial agenda and end up being just a meeting for meeting's sake. On the subject of Iran, Olmert said that Israel did not seek headlines, but that it would work to "remove this threat", referring to Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. "Israel is not in the forefront of this struggle", Olmert said, noting that Israel was not Iran's only potential target. In Ramallah in the West Bank, meanwhile, Abbas pressed Israel and the US on Thursday to make sure that the Middle East peace conference tackled the big, politically sensitive "final-status" issues that have bedeviled negotiators since 1979. With two sentences at a news conference with Rice, Abbas dispensed with all of the usual diplomatic rhetoric that US officials use to try to reassure Israelis who are uneasy about tackling those big issues. Rice has talked for two months about finding a "common set of principles" while the Israeli FM, Tzipi Livni, has expressed the need for finding "commonalities" between Israelis and Palestinians. Abbas sidestepped all of that and went to the heart of the matter, spelling out Palestinian, and in many ways American, aims for the conference in language anyone could understand. "We assured Dr. Rice of our genuine endeavor to reach a final-status framework agreement in order to implement the final-status issues including borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, water and security", Abbas said. "We believe that the time is ripe for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and for living side by side in security and tranquility with the state of Israel". Abbas said that part of the reason Arab countries have been hesitant about endorsing the conference was the ambiguous language used so far. "I believe there is a need for clarification", he said. "That's the duty of the inviting party to the conference". That ambiguous language highlights the very reason that Rice still faces an uphill battle if she is to succeed in pushing Israeli and Palestinians closer to real peace. Israeli officials are wary of negotiating final-status issues before their security concerns are met.