Israel to release 200 Palestinian prisoners to Palestinian Authority

For those who cannot read the signals - the Israeli government did a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah and they concluded a lull agreement with the Hamas. The extremists all "got something" while the moderate US backed government of Mahmoud Abbas got nothing. Evidently, the US put pressure on Israel to show some concrete results of the talks with the Palestinian Authority.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

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Last update - 14:10 17/08/2008       
Cabinet okays release of 200 Palestinian prisoners to PA

By Barak Ravid and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service

 

The cabinet on Sunday approved the release of close to 200 Palestinian prisonersas a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Among those slated for released include two prisoners thought to have "blood on their hands."

 

One of the Palestinians expected to be freed is said to have dispatched terrorists to carry out an attack while the other attempted to carry out an attack of his own.

 

Nabil Abu Rdainah, an Abbas aide, called the move "a step in the right direction" as Israel and the Palestinians pursue a statehood deal by January in U.S.-sponsored talks, but said "thousands, not hundreds" of prisoners should be set free.
 
A spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the cabinet voted to release about 200 Palestinian prisoners as a confidence-building measure aimed at bolstering Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and strengthening moderates.

 

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

 

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the leading Kadima candidate to succeed Olmert, said the release showed Palestinians that dialogue, not violence, achieved the best results.

 

A release list has not been finalised but would include long-serving inmates, women and children, and two prisoners involved in attacks on Israelis before the 1993 Oslo peace deal, the official said.

 

In the West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad welcomed the
gesture, but said Israel should release even larger numbers of prisoners.]

 

"We welcome the release of any Palestinian prisoner. It is considered a victory for Palestinians," he told The Associated Press during a tour of the northern village of Tubas. "We ask Israel to change its conditions for releasing prisoners and we ask for the release of all prisoners without exception."

 

From the Gaza Strip, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called for prisoners from his group to be included in the release. He said freeing only those from Abbas's Fatah faction would be "an attempt to strengthen Palestinian internal divisions."

 

Palestinian officials said Abbas had requested that the group include Said Atabeh, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine jailed in 1977 and the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israel.

 

Israel released 429 Palestinians as a gesture to Abbas after the resumption of peace negotiations in November at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

 

Months of meetings, closely shepherded by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have produced little visible progress on key issues such as control of Jerusalem and the future of millions of Palestinian refugees.