Israel on August 25 freed 198 out of about 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in a gesture to president Mahmud Abbas as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due in the region to spur US-backed peace talks. Many of the detainees fell to their knees and kissed the soil as they were released outside the Israeli military detention centre at Ofer in the occupied West Bank. Crowds cheered and chanted Palestinian patriotic songs as the detainees were driven to the territory’s political capital Ramallah for a lavish welcome at Abbas’s headquarters. The release took place just hours before Rice’s scheduled arrival on her 18th visit in two years aimed at encouraging peace talks formally relaunched at a conference hosted by US President George W. Bush in November.
Those released included the longest serving Palestinian prisoner Said al-Attaba, and Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Ali, known as Abu Ali Yatta. The release of Al-Attaba and Abu Ali is considered a rare and controversial exception to Israel’s policy.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed the release earlier this month, saying that it would bolster the Western-backed Abbas, whom he has met on a roughly fortnightly basis since the talks were formally relaunched. “It is a gesture towards the Palestinian leadership to strengthen moderate and pragmatic forces,” Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev was reported as saying.