Ramallah-based paper Al-Ayyam reported Tuesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday to release Fatah militant leader Marwan Barghouti a goodwill gesture.
The paper reported that Abbas asked that Barghouti be freed ahead of next month's Eid al-Adha festival, making the request during a meeting with Olmert on Monday.
Abbas also reportedly asked the prime minister to release Popular Front Secretary General Ahmad Sadat, and Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker and Hamas member Aziz al-Dweik.
Olmert, however, promised Abbas to release 250 prisoners, an Israeli spokesman said.
"The 250 prisoners will be released in advance of the upcoming Muslim holiday," said the spokesman, describing the move as a goodwill gesture towards Abbas, who revived peace talks with Israel after breaking with Hamas Islamist rivals last year. He insisted that the prisoners slated for release would not be aligned with Islamist movements.
Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Affairs Ashraf Eid al-Ajrami said that the identity of the prisoners to be freed for the Eid has yet to be determined.
Israel also agreed, the paper reported, to freeze demolition orders for 3,000 houses in the West Bank, and issue identity cards for 20,000Palestinians lacking identity documents.
Israel last freed Palestinian prisoners on August 25, during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has been trying to broker a peace deal. At the time, it described the release of the 198 prisoners as a bid to bolster Abbas.
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