August 18, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 15, 1429

JERUSALEM, Aug 17: Israel’s cabinet voted on Sunday to release about 200 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to president Mahmud Abbas aimed at bolstering slow-moving US-backed Middle East peace talks.

The Aug 25 release will coincide with a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice aimed at encouraging the negotiations, which have shown little visible sign of progress since they were revived in November.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev called the move a “confidence-building measure” towards Abbas, adding: “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 government official said.

They will be a rare exception to Israel’s general policy of not freeing 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 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 freeing of individual prisoners before the actual release takes place on Aug 25.

Rice is also due to meet Abbas on Aug 25 before holding talks with the heads of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said.

A spokesman for Abbas called the prisoner release a “step in the right direction,” but said the Palestinians had hoped to see more freed.

“President Mahmud Abbas had requested the release of very large numbers of prisoners, eventually leading to the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails,” Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

There are currently more than 11,000 Palestinians behind bars in Israel, including at least 85 women and children and 11 seriously ill people, according to the Palestinian Authority.

—AFP