Israel frees 188 Palestinian prisoners

Israel released some 188 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday in a move aimed at easing overcrowding in its jails, security sources said.

The release, the largest in more than seven months, was not meant as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians but rather to relieve deteriorating prison conditions, the sources said.

The selected prisoners are all nearing the end of their prison terms, and most would have been released by the end of this year. Most were convicted of relatively minor crimes, such as throwing rocks.

The defense establishment has been perturbed by the problems of overcrowding in the prisons. Since the beginning of this year alone, more than 2,500 Palestinians have been arrested in the West Bank. In recent weeks, the Central Command has been focusing only on urgent arrests, based on Shin Bet requests, due to the overcrowding.

In the last few days, some 30 Hebronites were arrested as part of the effort to crack down on those responsible for last week's Be'er Sheva bombing. Many of them are being held in division brigs, since the Shin Bet security services has not managed to make room for them at its own facilities, which are overflowing with detainees.

Many of the estimated 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails were rounded up for alleged militant activity and have been held without trial.

A Palestinian prisoner at the Megiddo detention facility in northern Israel said tents meant to hold 18 men were now accommodating as many as 25, and that "dozens" of prisoners were sleeping outside.

"This is difficult enough in summer," the man said, speaking to The Associated Press on a smuggled mobile phone on condition of anonymity, "but it will be unbearable in a month or so when winter begins."

Palestinians have demanded amnesty for all of their detainees in Israeli jails.

Tuesday's release was the biggest since January, when Israel freed 400 Palestinian inmates as part of a prisoner exchange deal with the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.