GAZA CITY, Feb 5: The Palestinians pressed for concessions from Israel on the release of prisoners on Saturday three days before a potentially breakthrough summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat and former security minister Mohammed Dahlan held fresh talks on the issue on Saturday with Dov Weisglass, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a source close to the meeting said.

"At the meeting, the central issue will be the prisoners, but they will also continue preparations for the summit," the source said, referring to Tuesday's summit between Mr Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the first between leaders of the two sides in more than four years.

Israeli ministers have agreed to free 900 of the 8,000 Palestinian prisoners, but the Palestinians are unhappy with the number and with Israel's refusal to coordinate with them over the choice of prisoners to be released or the criteria for selection.

"The release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel is very important for the Palestinian people, for the re-launch of the peace process and for Fatah," said the director of Mr Abbas's office, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, referring to his dominant faction.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said he expected a compromise to be reached in time for Tuesday's summit.

"We are ... demanding the liberation of 8,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and hope to be able to sort out the differences in this respect in 48 hours," he said.

Mr Abu Rudeina confirmed that the goal of the summit was a truce between the two sides.

"We intend to work so that a mutual ceasefire can be declared between the Palestinians and Israelis at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit," he said.

Mr Abbas held two rounds of talks with Fatah leaders in Gaza on Saturday to brief them on "the summit, political and security questions, and the results of contacts with Israel," Mr Abu Rudeina said.

The Palestinian leader has publicly called for an end to the armed struggle against Israel while seeking to seal a ceasefire by militant groups, earning praise for his security clampdown from leading Israeli officials.

"All our security officials believe important changes have taken place within the Palestinian Authority because it's the first time a Palestinian leader opposes terrorism," Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told public radio.

"It's now up to them to prove that they are capable of implementing what they promised."

Despite the burgeoning sense of optimism, comments by Mr Sharon on Friday underlined the fragility of the emerging rapprochement between the two sides.

"The Palestinian side hasn't done a thing except to deploy its forces in Gaza before taking significant steps in the war on terror," Mr Sharon said in a telephone conversation with his Norwegian counterpart Kjell Magne Bondevik.

On the ground, Palestinian security forces arrested three leaders of the leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine on suspicion of involvement in a grenade attack against Israeli troops in Gaza on Thursday.

Two of them were later released, DFLP sources said, but the group nonetheless hit out at what it described as 'political' arrests inspired by Israel and its US ally, and called for support from other militant groups.-AFP