GAZA, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs failed Thursday to advance the release of Palestinian prisoners, an issue which Islamic militants warned could topple a shaky cease-fire.

Palestinian Security Affairs Minister Mohammad Dahlan met Israel´s Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz for two hours at the Erez checkpoint on the Israel-Gaza frontier.

A Palestinian official described the meeting as "short and serious" and told Reuters "Mofaz gave no answer" to Dahlan´s demand for a broad release of prisoners.

Israel says the release of militants who have killed Israelis or who belong to Islamic groups could endanger the peace process rather than promote it, and Mofaz told Dahlan to disarm militant groups first, Israel radio reported.

The Islamic militant group Hamas has refused to disarm and warned a three-month truce declared under intense international pressure to further a U.S.-backed "road map" to peace, would unravel if Israel did not release all prisoners.

Mofaz said that the number of prisoners to be released was to be decided by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and a committee of intelligence officials.

But Dahlan said earlier that it was Israel´s failure to free sufficient prisoners that led Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to cancel a meeting with Sharon Wednesday.

Palestinian officials say Israel still holds 8,000 Palestinians, including minors, arrested since an uprising for independence began in September 2000.

Israel puts the figure at 5,900 and says it has released more than 50 Palestinian prisoners since the latest truce.

The prisoner issue is one of the most emotional, affecting the lives of almost every Palestinian.

Dahlan noted the cases of 460 prisoners in jail for many years, and said: "There´s no justification anymore for those staying in jail."

MEETING WITH EGYPTIAN ENVOYS

The Palestinian minister earlier met with two envoys sent by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to bolster the temporary cease-fire declared June 29 by Palestinian militant groups.

The mediators won the agreement of four militant factions to stick to the truce shaken by Israel´s refusal to release prisoners and end violence in the past week.

But during the meeting with Egyptian envoys, leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the mainstream Fatah movement hammered home a message that "the prisoner issue could blow up everything," one official said.

Islamic Jihad official, Mohammed al-Hindi, said that "the issue is central and fundamental and cannot be bypassed."

Palestinian officials have pressed for a massive release to boost the popularity of Abbas among ordinary Palestinians seeking a loosening of Israel´s military grip on their lives.

Dahlan pressed Mofaz at their meeting to withdraw troops from remaining occupied West Bank towns. Mofaz said Sharon would respond on this directly to Abbas at their next meeting possibly late next week, the official present at the talks told Reuters.

Israeli forces reoccupied most of the West Bank and parts of the Gaza Strip last year after a series of suicide bombings killed dozens of people in Israel.

They pulled back from areas in Gaza and the West Bank city of Bethlehem last week under the peace plan that calls for a Palestinian state by 2005. (© Reuters 2003 07/10/03)