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Last update - 00:00 17/11/2008
Israel to free 250 Palestinian prisoners in goodwill gesture to Abbas
By Reuters
Tags: israel news, mahmoud abbas 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during talks on Monday to release 250 Palestinians prisoners next month, a spokesman for Olmert said.

"The 250 prisoners will be released in advance of the upcoming Muslim holiday," said the spokesman, describing the move as a goodwill gesture towards Abbas, who revived peace talks with Israel after breaking with Hamas Islamist rivals last year

Muslims celebrate the al-Adha feast next month.
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The spokesman said the prisoners Israel plans to release would not be aligned with Islamist movements.

Israel last freed Palestinian prisoners on Aug. 25, during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has been trying to broker a peace deal. At the time, it described the release of the 198 prisoners as a bid to bolster Abbas.

Some 11,000 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons and securing their freedom is a highly emotive issue in Palestinian society, which regards them as symbols of resistance to occupation.

"President Abbas asked Mr. Olmert to sustain a comprehensive truce in Gaza and to release prisoners. Mr. Olmert agreed to release 250 prisoners early next month," said Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat.

A five-month-old, Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been tested over the past two weeks by a surge of violence that has included Israeli raids and air strikes in the territory and rocket attacks by militants.

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      1.   What on earth is Olmert doing??? 16:02  |  Malone 17/11/08
      2.   Israel to free 250 Palestinian prisoners in good will gesture to 16:17  |  Marlene 17/11/08
      3.   What about Shalit? 16:37  |  Zev 17/11/08
      4.   Commit to free all prisoners for a final settlement 16:37  |  MARK KLEIN, M.D. 17/11/08
      5.   And for his goodwill gesture, Abbas will.... 16:42  |  disgusted American 17/11/08
      6.   Israel can round up another 250 in 1 day.. 16:42  |  William 17/11/08
      7.   Go To Hell 16:43  |  Ahmed 17/11/08
      8.   11,000 more to go, and people are still whining about Shalit 17:30  |  just an observer 17/11/08
      9.   Prisoners or detainees? 17:41  |  John Lewis-Dickerson 17/11/08
      10.   Probably becaues of all the rockets falling over Israel 17:51  |  Chelmart 17/11/08
      11.   Shame on you! 18:22  |  Dav 17/11/08
      12.   Abbas good will gesture to Israel.... 19:04  |  Harriet 17/11/08
      13.   what good does this do... 19:05  |  Avi 17/11/08
      14.   What is a good will gesture...? 19:05  |  Stephen. 17/11/08
      15.   "Goodwill gesture to Abbas", and what about a goodwill gesture to 19:36  |  Aviv Guri 17/11/08
      16.   #8, just an observer, you wrote the post I was going to write.. 19:39  |  Silvienne 17/11/08
      17.   #11. Dav.. Far out. 19:41  |  Stephen. 17/11/08
      18.   #3, zev...What about the 11,000 Palestinians? 19:41  |  Silvienne 17/11/08
      19.   #7, Ahmed... 19:44  |  Silvienne 17/11/08
      20.   Ahmad and Dav 20:15  |  Miransky 17/11/08
      21.   #7 Ahmed: The Hezbollah that hides behind women and children? 20:54  |  Yacov 17/11/08
      22.   In Good Will for Justice 21:41  |  Mark 17/11/08
      23.   One reason not to support ABBAS the so-called moderate 23:58  |  Avi 17/11/08
      24.   A couple of questions.... 04:17  |  Johnboy 18/11/08
      25.   absurd , kick them out 04:53  |  miss hero 18/11/08
      26.   abbas hides his game beter than arafat! 04:54  |  moshe 18/11/08
      27.   Funny Ahmed, I thought that Nassrallah had always declared that 05:19  |  Jacob Blues 18/11/08
      28.   Well observer, here`s a key difference between the two 05:22  |  Jacob Blues 18/11/08
      29.   No, Silvienne you are wrong 05:28  |  Jacob Blues 18/11/08
      30.   Oh, and Silvienne, as to why we continue to bring up Cpl. Shalit 05:30  |  Jacob Blues 18/11/08
      31.   i don`t hear abbas standing up and speaking out on Shalit`s 05:59  |  glenna 18/11/08
      32.   Silvienne can you prove Shalit was captured in Gaza? 06:06  |  ME 18/11/08
      33.   #26, Jacob Blues, well Jacob, big difference in numbers... 19:28  |  Silvienne 18/11/08
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