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Cabinet approves release of 90 Palestinian prisoners
Proposal to free prisoners as Ramadan goodwill gesture to Abbas okayed by cabinet, still pending final approval by ministerial committee
Ronny Sofer
The cabinet approved in principle Sunday a proposal to release 90 Palestinian security prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The decision still needs to be granted final approval by a ministerial committee headed by the prime minister.
Sixteen ministers supported the proposal and six voted against.
The original proposal included the names of 100 prisoners, but 10 were removed from the list because they did not meet the criteria for release set by the government.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that the release would not harm the deal to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, because the prisoners who will be freed were not on the list presented by Hamas.
"This is an ordinary gesture that has always been in practice," he added.
Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai, who opposed the deal, said that "the previous gestures have proved to be hollow gestures. I backed the gradual transfer of funds to the Palestinians in order to test its efficiency, but it proved ineffective.
"We should be looking into moves that promote peace, not moves that delay the calm," he added.
The prisoners are scheduled to be released within the next 48 hours. Most of the prisoners are Fatah members, and none of them is a member of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Additionally, the list only includes prisoners who have not been involved in the murder of Israelis.
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