AL QUDS, July 7: Palestinian militants will resume attacks on Israelis at the end of the three-month ceasefire if Israel has not released all Palestinian prisoners by that time, a spokesman for the Hamas said on Monday.

The fragility of the ceasefire and the efforts to maintain it were underlined again on Monday when Palestinian police arrested an 18-year-old female suicide bomber who was planning an attack in Israel.

Police began searching for the woman after her family said she had left them a note announcing her intention to carry out a suicide attack in Israel.

Palestinian security officials denied reports the woman was released back to her family.

Under the “roadmap” peace plan, the Palestinian Authority has to take responsibility for security in areas the Israeli army vacates. Monday’s was the first such arrest since Israeli troops pulled out of areas of the Gaza Strip last week. It was not immediately clear to which militant organization the would-be bomber belonged.

Hamas said last week they were calling a three month halt to their attacks on Israel, but on condition Israel fulfilled several demands, among them the release of Palestinian prisoners.

“If Israel does not release all Palestinian prisoners during the three-month hudna (ceasefire), all Palestinian groups, including the Hamas, will consider themselves out of the truce and not committed to it,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Aziz Ranteesi said.

He made the remarks the day after the Israeli cabinet voted to accept the release of about 350 Palestinian prisoners, 215 of whom were “administrative detainees” who can be held for renewable six-month periods under military order without charge or trial.

The cabinet rejected freeing prisoners who were directly involved in killing Israelis.

Israel holds more than 5,000 Palestinians in its jails and the cabinet decided on Sunday the release would be in “small and measured” steps in reaction to “proven Palestinian actions in the security sphere”.

However, Palestinian officials complained that the initial number to be freed falls far below expectations.

The prisoner issue is a highly-emotional one for both sides, with Israelis seeing the detainees as criminals or terrorists and Palestinians as freedom fighters and prisoners of war.

So important is the issue for the Palestinians that the Palestinian Authority has a full ministry devoted to prisoners affairs.

The minister, Hisham Abdul Razeq, met on Monday with Israeli Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid and repeated afterwards the demand for all prisoners to be released, including those belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The meeting, which Palestinian Justice Minister Abdul Karim Abu Salah also attended, focused on renewing judicial contacts between the sides and rebuilding the justice system in the Palestinian autonomous areas.

It was one of a series of meetings Israeli and Palestinian ministers held on Monday as part of ongoing contacts aimed at implementing the first phase of the roadmap peace plan.

A parley between Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr discussed operating procedures of the joint committee against incitement to violence which they will head.

The committee is slated to monitor sources of incitement, to gather material and to report infringements.

Shalom said after the meeting that Amar told him steps were being taken to oversee both the Palestinian electronic and print media, as well as school text books, to ensure they were free of incitement against Israel.—dpa /AFP/ Reuters