Israel starts Palestinian prisoner release

BEERSHEBA, Israel - Israel began the release of 159 Palestinian prisoners yesterday, many of them serving the final months of their sentences, in a gesture to the new Palestinian leadership after Yasser Arafat's death.

Buses carrying prisoners left Ketziot prison in southern Israel for the West Bank border, witnesses said. Israel planned to release 113 prisoners convicted of security offences and 46 held for illegally entering the country, authorities said.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had promised the release to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after the handover earlier this month of Azzam Azzam, an Israeli sentenced in Egypt in 1997 to a 15-year term on espionage charges. Israel denied he was a spy.

Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, frontrunner in the Jan. 9 presidential election to choose Arafat's successor, has made the release of more than 7,000 Palestinians held by Israel part of his campaign to encourage militants to lay down their arms.

"I respect every prisoner that is released but we need a serious release process," Abbas told reporters.

A list provided by the Israel Prisons Authority showed that most of the prisoners going free Monday were nearing the end of their terms.

Many of the inmates were jailed for membership in militant groups but few took part in armed attacks on Israelis.

- REUTERS