Israel to free 230 jailed Palestinians on Tuesday

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it planned to release 230 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday as a goodwill gesture towards President Mahmoud Abbas, who is conducting peace talks opposed by Hamas Islamists.

The prisoners, a fraction of the 11,000 Palestinians held by Israel, will be freed in the occupied West Bank, where Abbas's government holds sway, during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement.

Israel announced last month it intended to release 250 prisoners, but the statement said a ministerial committee that met on Sunday approved a roster of 230 names.

None of the prisoners slated for release on Tuesday had "blood on their hands", the statement said, a reference to attacks that caused Israeli casualties.

Olmert's office called the move "a goodwill gesture towards the Palestinian Authority" led by Abbas "on the occasion of the Eid al-Adha holiday". It said the prisoners would come from the ranks of Abbas's Fatah faction and other non-Islamist groups.

Such releases are highly emotive for Palestinians, who regard prisoners as symbols of resistance to Israeli occupation.

Nearly 200 prisoners were freed by Israel in August.

U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Olmert and Abbas, rejected by Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, have shown little sign of progress.