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KITSIYOT, Israel - Israel released dozens of Palestinian prisoners on Friday as part of a U.S.-backed deal to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas following the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamists last month.
Some of the 250 or so prisoners, mostly members of Abbas's secular Fatah faction, signed early release papers and, bound in handcuffs, boarded buses at Kitsiyot prison in southern Israel.
From there they will be driven to the West Bank city of Ramallah to be greeted by Abbas and reunited with families.
Hamas, shunned by Israel and Western powers for refusing to renounce violence, routed Fatah forces in Gaza a month ago, prompting Abbas to dismiss the unity government it led and install a new administration in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Hamas won a parliamentary election 18 months ago, prompting an international embargo.
The schism between the two Palestinian territories has thrown hopes for establishing a state in both the West Bank and Gaza into disarray. But an eagerness in the West to marginalise Hamas has secured an end to sanctions on Abbas's new government as well as a number of concessions from Israel.
Apart from the release of prisoners, Israel has agreed to stop hunting dozens of militants loyal mainly to Fatah groups like the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, in return for promises that they have handed in weapons and joined formal security forces.
The United Nations, European Union and Russia, meeting in Lisbon with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the Quartet of Middle East mediators, threw their weight on Thursday behind US President George W. Bush's new plan to revive peace moves and pledged support for Palestinians, including Gazans.
"Just imagine for a moment if this process were moving forward again, just think how much hope there would be," said Tony Blair, the former British prime minister named last month as the Quartet's envoy to the Middle East.
"I hope I can offer something in bringing about a solution to this issue that is of such fundamental importance to the world," he added.
Blair will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah next week and report back to the Quartet on his strategy of reforms for the Palestinians in September, a statement from the meeting said.
Bush announced this week he intends to hold a Middle East peace conference. Rice will visit the Middle East shortly to try to boost support for the conference.
"The Quartet welcomed President Bush's July 16 statement renewing US commitment to a negotiated two-state solution," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, reading from the statement issued by the Quartet.
Rice said: "What you have heard today is a recommitment of the international community to rapidly pursue policies that can lead to that outcome (a two-state solution)."
It is years since Israel and the Palestinians last discussed issues at heart of the conflict - borders of a Palestinian state, the return of refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
The Quartet pledged to go on supporting Gaza Palestinians. Aid agencies have urged an easing of an effective trade embargo on Gaza, where poverty is increasing. "We are going to continue helping the Palestinian people that are in Gaza," European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
- REUTERS
