Palestinian prisoners freed as Rice heads to Middle East

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners on Monday in a gesture to president Mahmud Abbas as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due in the region to spur US-backed peace talks.

Crowds cheered and chanted Palestinian patriotic songs as the detainees were welcomed by thousands of supporters at an outdoor celebration at Abbas’s headquarters in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah.

“The release of this group fills us with joy but we will not be satisfied until all prisoners are released, the 11,000 who are still waiting,” Abbas told the crowd, referring to Palestinians still in Israeli jails.

“There will be no peace without the release of all our prisoners,” he added.

The release took place just hours before Rice’s scheduled arrival on her 18th visit in two years aimed at encouraging peace talks formally relaunched at a conference hosted by US President George W. Bush in November.

“This is a day of joy for the fighters of freedom and independence,” said Said al-Attaba, 56, the longest serving Palestinian prisoner who had been serving a life sentence since 1977 for killing an Israeli woman.

“It is like a wedding celebration for the Palestinian people, but our joy will not be complete until all Palestinian prisoners are released,” he told AFP by telephone.