Region | Palestinian Territories

Israel to release Palestinian prisoners

Israel has approved the release of about 150 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian government.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 11:55 August 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Cabinet overwhelmingly passed the proposal at a meeting on Sunday
  • Image Credit: Gulf News Archive

Occupied Jerusalem: Israel has approved the release of about 150 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian government.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Cabinet overwhelmingly passed the proposal at a meeting on Sunday. Earlier this month, Olmert promised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to free some of the 11,000 Palestinians held by Israel.

Olmert's office says the gesture is meant to show the Palestinians that they can win the release of prisoners through peaceful means.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, an Abbas aide, called the move "a step in the right direction" for the peace talks but said "thousands, not hundreds" of prisoners should be set free.

The release would be carried out around August 25, before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a government official said.

Those to be release will include long-serving inmates, women and children, and two prisoners involved in attacks on Israelis before the 1993 Oslo peace deal, the official said.

Hamas called for the release of imprisoned members of its group, saying that freeing only Fatah prisoners would be "an attempt to strengthen Palestinian internal divisions".

Hamas is demanding the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media say Sunday's Cabinet vote was expected to include few Palestinians who were involved in deadly attacks against Israelis.

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