JERUSALEM: Israeli Cabinet ministers on Thursday approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners - 500 of them next week - and a withdrawal from the West Bank town of Jericho in the coming days, officials said, in a pair of gestures ahead of a regional summit next week. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security Cabinet, a senior group of ministers, approved the measures during a four-hour meeting. The ministers approved the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners immediately after next Tuesday's summit, an official in the meeting said on condition of anonymity. An additional 400 prisoners will be freed within three months. In addition, the ministers decided the army would pullout of the West Bank town of Jericho in the coming days, the first of five cities to be vacated by the army in the coming weeks. The ministers also approved the formation of a joint Israeli-Palestinian committee to decide what to do with Palestinian fugitives.