Israel Releases 198 Palestinian Prisoners

Israel released 198 Palestinian prisoners yesterday, including the longest serving inmate, in what it said was a "goodwill gesture" to encourage diplomatic negotiations.

The prisoners were greeted with noisy celebrations when they crossed through the first checkpoint into the occupied West Bank and then again at the presidential compound in Ramallah, but there was little immediate sign that this third prisoner release since the latest peace talks began a year ago heralded any progress in negotiations to end the conflict. The release came on the same day that the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, arrived in Jerusalem for talks with both sides.

Among those released was Said al-Atbeh, 57, who has spent the past 32 years in Israeli jails after being convicted of a bombing at an Israeli market place that killed one woman and injured dozens of others. "I feel like I've been born again," he said. His sister, Sana, said: "I'm very happy but at the same time sad because there are other mothers, sisters and daughters who are still at home waiting for their sons to be released."

Other notable prisoners freed yesterday were Mohammad Abu Ali, who was jailed in 1980 for killing an Israeli settler in the West Bank, and Husam Khader, a Palestinian MP and an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus who was arrested five years ago.

No prisoners from Hamas or Islamic Jihad were released and Israel said the process was intended to support Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader and Palestinian president. The release has brought criticism from Hamas, which wants hundreds of prisoners released in return for an Israeli soldier captured two years ago and who is still being held hostage in Gaza.

Addressing a large crowd at his compound in the Muqata in Ramallah yesterday, Abbas told the prisoners they were a "symbol of steadfastness" and read out the names of other prominent prisoners still being held. "There is no doubt we are seeking peace and we are calling for the achievement of our national principles," he said. "There will be no peace without the release of all prisoners."

Around 9,000 Palestinians remain in jail for political crimes, among them 47 Palestinian MPs and at least 1,000 people who are being held on "administrative detention", meaning they have not been charged or put or trial nor told what crimes they are suspected of committing. The prisoner issue is deeply sensitive for the Palestinians - around one-fifth of the population has at one time been imprisoned since the occupation began in 1967.

In the crowd was Mohammad Amayri, 30, who had served six years of a 10-year sentence for his involvement in the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed wing of Abbas' Fatah movement. "It's an indescribable feeling this happiness. I hope that every Palestinian prisoner will get to feel it," he said. His father, Ali Amayri, 60, stood in the square embracing his son. He had only been allowed three visits in the past six years, and his wife had been allowed only one visit to her son. "I'm very, very happy today, but this is just a little step for us Palestinians," he said. "I don't think that what my son did was a mistake. It was right, because it is our right to defend ourselves from our enemy."