PA to free 80 Hamas prisoners ahead of reconciliation talks

The Palestinian Authority will release 80 Hamas operatives from West Bank prisons in the coming days in a gesture of goodwill ahead of unity government talks between the two rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, scheduled to take place in Cairo next Wednesday.

Salah al-Bardawil, a Hamas member of parliament, said Fatah officials had already confirmed that the prisoners would be freed, but that in his view, this step is "not enough."

Another Hamas parliamentarian, Mushir al-Masri, encouraged the PA to free all Hamas-linked prisoners from its jails. The PA holds several hundred Hamas-linked prisoners in the West Bank, some of them because of their political ideologies and others for militant activity.

Hamas also holds several hundred Fatah-linked prisoners in the Gaza Strip. During last month's IDF offensive in the territory, several dozen were executed.

Egypt seeks to help build a Palestinian unity government on a non-partisan basis, and to declare early elections for the Palestinian president and parliament. Wide-ranging reforms are also planned for the Palestinian security apparatus and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Representatives from virtually all of the Palestinian factions will be attending the Cairo talks. Last November, Hamas refused to attend negotiations in the Egyptian capital, but changed its position in the wake of Israel's military operation.