Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s cabinet has approved the release of 441 Palestinian prisoners ahead of the November 26-27 conference in Annapolis, Maryland. The decision came on Monday in spite of several cabinet ministers voting against the measure.

This is the third major prisoner release by the Olmert administration since July. Each has drawn criticism, with cabinet ministers saying these political gestures hinder Israel’s war on terror and jeopardize Israeli citizens.

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman said “it is clear” negotiations have reached a dead end and called for “a comprehensive operation in Gaza in order to stop Kassam and mortar shell attacks.”

Lieberman pointed out that previous prisoner releases had not bolstered Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, a so-called moderate, and that continued releases were a bad idea. Of the prisoners themselves, he said that although they had not directly attacked Israelis, “they intended to kill, to murder. They did not succeed because of the security services, because of the army” (ibid.).

Although Israeli security services trying frantically to detect and arrest would-be murderers have to be exasperated at the release of 441 prisoners and the possibility of would-be terrorists turning back into terrorists-in-waiting, Olmert feels the release is a necessary political dance move. Washington has pinned high hopes on Annapolis, hailing it with even more fanfare than its most recent defunct peace plan, the 2003 “road map for peace.” Under the first phase of that plan, the Palestinians were obliged to stop using terrorism by May of 2003.

Washington also wants Arab countries to participate in the conference, but Saudi Arabia and others have dictated they will not come unless Palestinian prisoners are released. They have also demanded a freeze on all Israeli settlement activity. Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel.

The Arab League will decide on Friday whether or not some of its members will attend.

Israel has not built a new West Bank settlement in almost 10 years. It has continued construction inside of existing settlements, however.

The Bush administration is pressuring Israel to forfeit significant concessions and place core issues such as the West Bank and East Jerusalem on the table. Olmert has previously shown a willingness to trade away land and sovereignty for Palestinian promises of peace, but many Israelis are against the idea.

In 2000, 94 miles away at Camp David, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak conceded the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, plus Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat rejected the offer. Arafat proposed no counteroffer and initiated the second intifada two months later.

Watch for the same tactics to produce the same results. Releasing prisoners, conceding land, dismantling settlements and the placebo of dialogue have done nothing to cure Israel’s undressed wound. In fact, the so-called peace process is itself Israel’s worst wound. For more analysis on this subject, read “Israel’s Bleeding Wound.”