Israeli cabinet approves Palestinian prisoner release

Israel on Sunday approved the release of 104 Arab prisoners in a move intended to facilitate the restart of peace talks with the Palestinians and end nearly three years of diplomatic standstill.

Thirteen ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet authorised the release, seven voted against and two abstained, a government official said.

The start of the meeting was delayed for more than an hour, as Israeli media said Netanyahu sought to win over opponents within his own rightwing Likud party.

"There are moments when one must make hard decisions for the good of the country and this is one of those moments," his office quoted him as telling ministers at the start of the meeting. While the names of the prisoners have yet to be officially published, or even revealed to ministers, they reportedly include militants convicted of killing Israeli women and children or Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.

"This moment is not easy is for me, not easy for the ministers, and especially not easy for the bereaved families," Netanyahu said.

An unofficial list published by Almagor, a group representing Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks, said that candidates for release also included those jailed for acts such as the killing of a creditor, murder during car theft and a man convicted of strangling his wife, whom he suspected of adultery.

The planned releases have brought protests from Israeli victims' families, settlers and Netanyahu's hardline coalition partners.

A Palestinian official said on Saturday that the US-brokered renewal of peace talks, stalled since September 2010, would open in Washington on Tuesday.

Ahead of the resumption of talks, the Israeli cabinet approved an "urgent and important" bill that would require a referendum for a peace treaty in some circumstances.

A cabinet briefing paper said the government would ask parliament to fast-track its passage into law.

If adopted, the bill would oblige a referendum in cases where territory over which Israel claims sovereignty is ceded in a peace agreement by a cabinet decision.

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem for the capital of their state. Israel rules out ceding sovereignty over any part of what it calls its "eternal and indivisible capital".

AFP-Reuters