Israel will release Palestinian prisoners

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel was prepared to release to some prisoners "outstanding" but not that it could not accept Palestinian demands on borders of their future state before the start of the dialogue. The U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, said Friday that Israelis and Palestinians had laid the groundwork for the resumption of conversacione s peace after three years of stagnation, but warned that the deal was not final and that required more diplomatic work. "There will be some release of prisoners," Steinitz told Israel Radio. "I will not give numbers, but will be featured prisoners in prison carrying tens of years." The release will take place in phases, he added. The Palestinians have been asking for a long the release of prisoners held before 1993, when the two sides signed the Oslo Accords interim pact with which it tried to achieve aPalestinian independent state consisting of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "In all the meetings of President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) with Minister Kerry and others, the Palestinian demand to release prisoners was at the top of the agenda, "said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdaineh. There are about 100 pre-Oslo prisoners in Israeli jails, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, an organization that looks after the interests of prisoners and their families.