Israel to release 200 Palestinians

Published: August 18, 2008

â€œPresident Mahmud Abbas had requested the release of very large numbers of prisoners, eventually leading to the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails,â€ Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
There are currently more than 11,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, including at least 85 women and children and 11 seriously ill people, according to the Palestinian Authority.
The gesture is widely seen as a way of boosting the Western-backed Abbas against the rival Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the Lebanese Hezbollah Shiite militia.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni hailed the decision, saying that â€œwhoever releases prisoners only to Hamas is strengthening Hamas.â€
The release would signal that â€œwhoever engages in dialogue with Israel can be boosted through dialogue and not through the use of force,â€ she added.
In July Hezbollah celebrated what it called a major victory when it traded the bodies of two Israeli soldiers for five Lebanese prisoners and the remains of some 200 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.
Hamas has been trying to secure a similar deal to swap Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, seized in a deadly cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in June 2006, for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai slammed the decision to release the prisoners, saying it would undermine efforts to free Shalit.

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