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Occupied Jerusalem: Israel is considering relaxing its rules for releasing Palestinian prisoners, officials said on Monday ahead of planned peace talks.
The proposed criteria changes will be discussed at a government meeting on Monday, officials said.
Easing Israeli restrictions on releasing prisoners who have killed Israelis was part of efforts to secure a swap deal with Hamas for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Israel's deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, told Israel Radio that Marwan Barghouthi, a Palestinian opposition leader, could be a candidate for release.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has long urged Israel to relax its prisoner criteria. Israeli minister Rafi Eitan said the current criteria made it difficult to reach a prisoner swap deal.
"If we deal with the criteria that has been used so far, there is nobody left to release," said former deputy Israeli defence minister, Efraim Sneh.
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