500 Palestinians to go free

2005-02-13 14:19

Jerusalem - Israel approved the release of some 500 Palestinians from its jails Sunday after Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas secured a pledge from radical Islamists to refrain from attacks.

The widely-anticipated decision was unanimously approved at a committee meeting chaired by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who held a landmark summit with Abbas in Egypt last week.

Both men have declared an end to hostilities after four years of bloodshed but the success of Abbas's efforts to persuade the likes of Hamas to also hold their fire is in part dependent on the whole prisoners issue.

The list of the names of the prisoners to be released are to be published on the Internet in order to allow the Israeli public to appeal against their freedom.

"We have asked the director general of the justice ministry to take the necessary measures to implement this decision," Sharon said after the meeting.

The Israeli leader had confirmed at Tuesday's summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that hundreds of prisoners would be freed.

The 500 who are set to go free in the coming days should be followed by another 400 in the next months.

Israel has so far however refused to countenance the release of anyone who has taken part in deadly attacks, regardless of how long they have spent behind bars.

But with the Palestinians pushing for the release of long-term prisoners convicted of taking part in deadly attacks, the two sides have agreed to set up a joint committee to further debate the criteria. About 7 600 Palestinians are currently in Israeli detention.

The vast majority of the 500 set to go free in the initial batch are members of Abbas's mainstream Fatah movement but they also include members of the radical Islamist movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Both militant groups agreed on Saturday to maintain an informal truce but the leadership failed to secure their signature to a ceasefire announced with Israel earlier in the week.

"Hamas is going to maintain its cooling down period," one of its leaders, Ismail Haniya, told AFP after talks with Abbas in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi made similar comments after a later meeting with Abbas.

Both groups have said that a formal ceasefire declaration will only be forthcoming once its prisoners are released and Israel end its all its military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Although it has largely refrained from launching attacks over the last month, Hamas did unleash dozens of mortars and rockets on Thursday after two of its members were killed in disputed circumstances.

Despite the fragile nature of the truce, both sides are looking to plough ahead with an agreement for the transfer of security control in parts of the West Bank.

General Gadi Eisenkot, commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, and the head of Palestinian national security in the West Bank General Hajj Ismail Jabr were due to meet late on Sunday to co-ordinate the transfers.

- AFP