JERUSALEM: The Israeli cabinet gave its approval on Sunday to the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during talks on November 17 with Abbas undertook to free the prisoners. The talks in Jerusalem were the two men's first meeting in two months.

Officials were not immediately able to give a breakdown of the vote in cabinet, which was not carried unanimously. Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai from the ultra-Orthdox Shas party told reporters before the meeting that he would vote against the release.

'Releasing prisoners time and again only weakens the chances of concluding negotiations for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit,' he said referring to an Israeli conscript held by Gaza militants since June 2006. 'This gesture is very dangerous, strange and dubious.'

The names of those to be freed will now be drawn up by a special committee according to criteria which rule out the release of prisoners 'with Jewish blood on their hands'. Israelis will also be able to lodge objections to any candidates identified for release.

A senior Israeli official has said that none of the prisoners to be freed belongs to radical Palestinian groups such as Hamas, the Islamist movement which seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

In a similar move in August, Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners. More than 11,000 Palestinians are still held in Israeli prisons.