Israel approves prisoner releases

08/07/2007| IslamWeb

The Israeli cabinet has approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners who are members of Fatah in a gesture of support for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

Sunday's move comes after Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, agreed to the release of the Palestinian prisoners two weeks ago during a meeting with Abbas in Egypt.

"I think this is a worthy gesture to make ... because we want to use any means that can reinforce moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority," Olmert told the cabinet.

None of the prisoners released will have "blood on their hands," Olmert said.

Cabinet participants, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was still going on, said the release was approved by a wide margin.

New list

Olmert on Saturday had rejected a preliminary list of names to be released drawn up by the Shin Beth internal security agency and the justice ministry, as the sentences of several of the people on it were due to end soon anyway.

"The prime minister believed the release would not only not help Abbas, but would actually be seen as a slap in the face," a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Olmert has ordered a new list drawn up, with prisoners on it having at least a third of their sentence left to serve.

They are all to be members of secular Fatah and "men who can reinforce the moderates among the Palestinians," Miri Eisin, Israeli government spokeswoman, said.

Israel currently holds more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners, just over half of them having been convicted of an offence and more than 800 of them being held without charge.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert (l) and Mahmoud Abbas (archive)