Israel set to release Palestinians

JERUSALEM – Israel agreed yesterday to free another 90 Palestinian prisoners to try to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a US-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood, officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s cabinet approved the release in principle and said a ministerial committee would meet later yesterday to finalise the list of prisoners. Olmert’s proposal to release Palestinian prisoners for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan had been delayed for two weeks after a series of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip cast doubt on whether he could persuade his cabinet to back the move.The Israeli government had been expected to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.It was not immediately clear why the number was cut back.”The idea of releasing prisoners is specifically to bolster the moderates,” said Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin.”We hope to see additional gestures in the future.”Abbas aide Saeb Erekat welcomed the step but said Israel’s criteria for releasing prisoners was ‘too restrictive’ and should be changed.Israel said none of the prisoners has “blood on his hands”, a reference to deadly attacks on Israelis.All detainees must also agree to renounce violence before they are freed.Olmert faces growing resistance from within his coalition government to taking more sweeping steps to bolster Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in June.A month after Gaza’s takeover, Israel freed more than 250 Palestinian prisoners, mostly Fatah members.Abbas’s secular Fatah faction still dominates the occupied West Bank but it is struggling to exert security control.Israeli cabinet minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch argued against the release of the 90 prisoners.”For everything we give, we don’t get anything in return,” he said.The release of prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their nearly 11 000 brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation.The vote followed a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who assured Abbas that Washington wanted the planned Middle East conference to put them firmly on the road towards statehood.The conference is expected to be held in mid-to-late November.Ashraf Ajrami, the Palestinian minister for prisoner affairs, said the release of 90 prisoners was virtually meaningless given the thousands of Palestinians who remain in Israeli jails.”Israel is speaking about goodwill but if it wants to show goodwill, it needs to release 1 000 prisoners or more, not 100,” Ajrami said.Nampa-ReutersOlmert’s proposal to release Palestinian prisoners for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan had been delayed for two weeks after a series of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip cast doubt on whether he could persuade his cabinet to back the move.The Israeli government had been expected to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.It was not immediately clear why the number was cut back.”The idea of releasing prisoners is specifically to bolster the moderates,” said Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin.”We hope to see additional gestures in the future.”Abbas aide Saeb Erekat welcomed the step but said Israel’s criteria for releasing prisoners was ‘too restrictive’ and should be changed.Israel said none of the prisoners has “blood on his hands”, a reference to deadly attacks on Israelis.All detainees must also agree to renounce violence before they are freed.Olmert faces growing resistance from within his coalition government to taking more sweeping steps to bolster Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in June.A month after Gaza’s takeover, Israel freed more than 250 Palestinian prisoners, mostly Fatah members.Abbas’s secular Fatah faction still dominates the occupied West Bank but it is struggling to exert security control.Israeli cabinet minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch argued against the release of the 90 prisoners.”For everything we give, we don’t get anything in return,” he said.The release of prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians, who see their nearly 11 000 brethren held in Israeli jails as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation.The vote followed a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who assured Abbas that Washington wanted the planned Middle East conference to put them firmly on the road towards statehood.The conference is expected to be held in mid-to-late November.Ashraf Ajrami, the Palestinian minister for prisoner affairs, said the release of 90 prisoners was virtually meaningless given the thousands of Palestinians who remain in Israeli jails.”Israel is speaking about goodwill but if it wants to show goodwill, it needs to release 1 000 prisoners or more, not 100,” Ajrami said.Nampa-Reuters