Israel to release 200 Palestinians

JERUSALEM  - Israel’s cabinet voted on Sunday to release some 200 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to president Mahmud Abbas aimed at bolstering slow-moving US-backed peace talks.
PM Ehud Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev called the move a “confidence-building measure� towards Abbas, saying “we hope the release will help strengthen the peace process.�
The list, which will be considered for final approval by a ministerial committee on Monday, will include at least two veteran prisoners implicated in deadly attacks on Israelis in the 1970s, a senior govt official told AFP.
They will be a rare exception to Israel’s general policy of not releasing those with “blood on their hands,� but the official said the security establishment “believes the risk of the release is very low.� Israel had first announced the move on August 6 following a face-to-face meeting between Olmert and Abbas, the latest in a series of discussions held since they relaunched peace talks at a US-hosted conference in November.
Once the ministerial committee approves the decision, Israelis will be able to appeal against the release of individual prisoners before the actual release takes place on August 25.
A spokesman for Abbas called the decision a “step in the right direction,� but said the Palestinians had hoped to see more prisoners freed.