Israel will release 26 Palestinian prisoners tonight, ahead of the resumption of peace talks tomorrow in Jerusalem.
The prisoners are the first batch of 104 veteran Palestinian detainees Israel agreed to free as part of an agreement reached after intensive shuttle diplomacy by US secretary of state John Kerry to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
The 26 prisoners were arrested before the Oslo peace accords were signed 20 years ago and include some of the most notorious militants jailed by Israel. Seventeen were convicted of murder and the remaining prisoners were jailed on charges of manslaughter, attempted murder, kidnapping and conspiring to commit murder.
The 12 West Bank residents among the detainees will be welcomed at an official ceremony at the Ramallah headquarters of President Mahmoud Abbas. The 14 Gaza Strip residents will be released at the Gaza border crossing.
Palestinian officials said that 20 of the men belonged to Mr Abbas’s Fatah movement while the others were from rival groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Ahead of the releases, Israel warned that any prisoner resuming militant activity would be put back in jail to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
Israeli opinion polls showed widespread opposition to the decision to release the 104 prisoners. However, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said it was a gesture necessary to persuade the Palestinians to agree to resume long-stalled negotiations.
Israel wants to deport some of the West Bank prisoners, but the Palestinian leadership insists all the men must be allowed to return to their homes.
Israel’s housing minister Uri Ariel condemned the prisoner release. “The place for terrorists is in prison, otherwise the state is making a mockery of its justice system that sentenced these despicable murderers to extended sentences,” he said.
Mr Abbas stressed that all the long-term prisoners would be released without exception, including residents of east Jerusalem and Israeli Arabs. “The release of prisoners will increase the chances and bolster efforts to achieve peace, calm and stability.”
The ministerial committee drew up the list of prisoners to be freed just hours after Israel had announced a major new construction drive in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, giving the green light for 1,200 new homes.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat reacted angrily. “If the Israeli government believes that every week they are going to cross a red line by settlement activity, if they go with this behaviour, what they are advertising is the unsustainability of the negotiations.”
