Israel releases Palestinian prisoners

JERUSALEM -- Israel freed the first of several hundred Palestinians slated for release Wednesday, transporting the prisoners to relatives who greeted them with waving flags and chants of "Welcome" and "God is Great."\nA Palestinian taxi carried some of the men from Israel's Erez checkpoint into the Gaza Strip, where they emerged and kissed the ground. Minutes later, several more prisoners were freed at Beitunya junction near Ramallah, and several busloads of detainees also arrived at Tarqumiya checkpoint in the southern West Bank.\nIsrael has agreed to free about 440 prisoners as a goodwill gesture, but the Palestinians have scorned the plan as insufficient, saying they want thousands freed -- in part to strengthen a cease-fire called by militants. The prisoners have become a major sticking point to progress on the U.S.-backed road map peace plan.\nStill, the release was an occasion for joy for the prisoners' families.\nIn Gaza, newly freed Hussein Abu Eid kissed and embraced his father for several minutes.\n"I miss you my father. I wish my mother was still alive to see me and bring happiness to her heart," said the 32-year-old Abu Eid, who served 13 years of a 15-year sentence for membership in the militant group Islamic Jihad.\nAt Tarqumiya, prisoners leaned from windows and made victory signs before the buses crossed into the Palestinian area, to whistles and cheers from hundreds of waiting relatives.\nMost of the Palestinians are to be freed Wednesday, but about 100 detainees, who were held for criminal charges as opposed to alleged militant involvement, will be freed later. Israel, which is holding about 7,700 prisoners, says it won't release Palestinians involved in terror attacks.\nThe Palestinians want to see thousands of Palestinians freed and say many of those released Wednesday were near the end of their prison sentences. To protest the Israeli plan, they canceled a summit set for this week between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon and called for U.S. intervention to prevent a crisis in peace efforts.\nBut the disagreement goes deeper. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called the release a "deceit," referring to the fact that most of the prisoners to be freed had nearly completed their terms.\nThe Palestinian prisoners' affairs ministry said there would be no official welcome for the inmates, as a protest of Israeli "deception."\nThe inmates were driven in buses from Israeli prisons to five checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Several dozen of the prisoners belonged to the Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Palestinian sources said.\nThe head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club in the West Bank, Khaleda Jarar, said almost half the prisoners being freed were administrative detainees held without charge. Of the remaining prisoners serving sentences, she said, 80 percent were in the final year of their terms.\nFamilies of Israeli victims of Palestinian terror attacks appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to block the release. The court turned down the appeals.\nArafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeineh said the limited release was inadequate.\n"This is not the understanding, this is not the agreement," he said. "The Israelis should release all the prisoners."\nThe prisoner releases are not called for under the road map, but they have became a major Palestinian demand. Almost daily, there are Palestinian demonstrations calling for prisoners' freedom, and Abbas has adopted the cause.\nAbbas met late Tuesday in Gaza with the heads of the violent Islamic groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They declared a three-month halt to attacks against Israelis on June 29. Fatah, headed by Arafat and Abbas, declared a six-month truce, though militants from the Al Aqsa Brigades -- a militia connected to Fatah -- have since carried out some attacks.\nShaath said Abbas would try to persuade the militants to extend the truce. However, spokesmen from the Islamic groups said they did not discuss that, charging Israeli violations.\nWith the cancellation of the summit and tension rising, Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat, a leading spokesman for the Palestinians, called for U.S. involvement to avert "the development of a major crisis."\nU.S. envoy John Wolf has been in the region since Friday, meeting with Israeli and Palestinian security officials. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns will be arriving next week, a U.S. government official said on condition of anonymity.\nBoth sides have not carried out obligations under the road map. The Palestinians have not moved to disarm militants and Israel has not frozen construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza or dismantled dozens of unauthorized outposts. Israeli troops also remain in control of most West Bank towns and maintains dozens of roadblocks, stifling West Bank life.\nEarly Wednesday, Israeli forces scuffled with settlers while removing a small unauthorized settlement outpost in the divided West Bank city of Hebron, the army and police said.\nTen settlers were arrested for resisting the evacuation, police spokesman Doron Ben-Amo said.\nOn Wednesday, a car bomb exploded in Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring several others. Police said the motive was criminal not terrorism.\nThe blast rocked Herzl Street in the south of the city. Rescue workers said a 58-year-old man was critically wounded and later died. Eight people were lightly hurt.\n"It's not a terrorist attack," said police spokeswoman Slomit Holtzberg. "We know the people involved"