Israel will release more than 400 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday.

 

The prisoners in Israeli Ketziot prison were quoted as confirming that they had received notice from the Red Cross about their release set for Sunday.

 

On Nov. 19, Israeli cabinet approved the release of 441 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill to strengthen Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas who demanded Israel free 2,000 security prisoners before a U.S.-sponsored international summit on Middle East peace.

 

A ministerial committee approved a list of 432 prisoners to be released. A number of the inmates that appeared on the originalist were removed, because they aligned themselves with Hamas while in prison.

 

Currently, there are around 10,000 Palestinian security prisoners incarcerated in Israeli prisons.

 

The international conference on Middle East peace, proposed by U.S. President George W. Bush in July, kicked off in Annapolis, Maryland on Tuesday in an attempt to revive the stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)