RAMALLAH, Oct 1: Dozens of joyous Palestinian prisoners arrived to a hero’s welcome in the West Bank on Monday after Israel released them in a Ramazan goodwill gesture to President Mahmud Abbas.

But another 29 prisoners due to be released into Gaza continued to languish behind bars as Israeli President Shimon Peres delayed signing their pardons, officials said.

A spokesman in the prime minister’s office later said the pardons were signed on Monday evening, without explaining the delay, and that “the Gaza detained should be released on Tuesday”.

Fifty-seven Palestinians rode truimphantly into Ramallah in the afternoon, flashing victory signs and smiles, after Israeli armoured buses deposed them at the Beitunya checkpoint.

“I am born again today,” said Rakad Salem, who served five out of eight years of his sentence for distributing funds from late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein to families of Palestinian suicide bombers. “But our joy is not complete as long as thousands of others detainees continue to be behind bars,” he said—AFP