Israel cabinet backs prisoner release

Israel's cabinet has agreed to release 250 Palestinian prisoners in the latest of a series of attempts to strengthen Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to free prisoners of Abbas's Fatah movement in a June 25 summit with the Palestinian leader as part of a Western campaign to bolster the new administration he named after sacking a unity government with Hamas Islamists.

A government official said the cabinet voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion to release 250 prisoners.

Previous prisoner releases have raised opposition from groups representing families of Israelis harmed in Palestinian attacks. Palestinians regard prisoners held by Israel as heroes of what they call resistance against occupation.

The United States and European Union have been prodding Olmert to nurture contacts with Abbas's emergency government in the hope of resuming long-stalled peace talks.

Olmert told the cabinet that bolstering Palestinian moderates could "encourage them to move in the direction we believe can create conditions for the start of substantial dialogue".

In a goodwill gesture last week, Israel released Palestinian tax funds it had frozen a year ago when Hamas rose to power, a move that helped enable Abbas to pay Palestinian civil servants full salaries for the first time in 17 months.

Hamas, which has rejected Western demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords took over the Gaza Strip last month after routing Fatah in factional fighting.

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