Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The Israeli government voted to release some 441 Palestinian security prisoners, mostly from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, as a goodwill gesture before an anticipated meeting in Annapolis. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also pledged to stop building new settlements in the West Bank.

Olmert met with Abbas in Jerusalem on Monday. They discussed "various aspects" of the joint statement they plan to make at the U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland, Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin said in a statement.

The conference is expected to take place next week although a firm date has not been announced.

Earlier press reports suggested there would be no joint statement and that the two sides might make separate statements. However, Eisen said that negotiating teams from the two sides would meet again later to discuss a statement.

Olmert and Abbas also discussed the "full implications" of implementing the first phase of the road map peace plan, Eisin said without elaborating.

The road map penned by the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia in 2003 was accepted by both sides but never implemented due to continuing violence.

The first phase of the road map calls on the Palestinians to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and collect illegal weapons. It also calls on Israel to halt settlement building and uproot unauthorized outposts.

Olmert said on Monday that Israel would not build any new settlements, as stipulated by the road map peace plan.

"We committed ourselves in the road map not to build new settlements, we will not build new settlements...we will not confiscate land," Olmert told cabinet ministers according to Eisin. He also pledged to uproot illegal outposts, she said. He apparently did not discuss the continuing expansion of existing settlements.

Yishay Hollendar, a spokesman for the organization that represents Jewish communities in the West Bank, said it views Olmert's declarations "gravely."

Hollendar denounced the parallel in the road map calling on Israel to stop building in exchange for a Palestinian halt to terrorism. He said life in Jewish communities continues to thrive and develop despite attempts to stop it.

It is not clear if Olmert's statement goes as far as the U.S. and Palestinians want Israel to go.

Palestinians and the U.S. want Israel to agree to stop construction of new homes in already existing settlements, something that Israel calls "natural growth."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Abu Gheit said in an interview with the BBC that Israel should declare at the conference that it is "freezing all settlement activity."

Olmert is set to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh on Tuesday, ahead of an Arab League meeting on Friday, at which ministers from Arab states will decide whether to attend the Annapolis meeting.

The U.S. wants broad support for the conference from so-called moderate Arab states, even though Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to have full diplomatic ties with Israel.

Eisin said nothing about the Palestinian security commitments outlined in the road map. But Israeli officials have indicated that the P.A. has taken only small steps in this area.

Israel is making gestures to Abbas from a "point of strength, not of weakness," Eisen said.

Olmert is willing to risk making gestures to bolster what Eisin called the "moderates" because the alternative could be that the Palestinians would be controlled by Hamas in a few years. Security issues are taken into account, she said.

The prisoners that are up for release do not have blood on their hands, (i.e. they have not murdered anyone) and they are not from the Hamas or the Islamic Jihad factions, said Eisin.

Israeli army chief Gabi Ashkenazi reportedly objected to the release.

Meanwhile, security forces are on high alert ahead of the conference, concerned that Palestinian terror groups opposed to the meeting will try to carry out major attacks in an attempt to scuttle the meeting, media reports said.

Palestinian terrorists launched at least six rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip that fell inside Israel on Monday, the army said.