Israel began releasing dozens of jailed Palestinians today in a bid to shore up President Mahmoud Abbas against his Islamist rivals Hamas, and ahead of a US-sponsored conference on Palestinian statehood.
After several hours' delay, 57 prisoners were taken by bus out of the desert stockade of Kitsyot toward the West Bank, Israel's Prisons Service said. Another inmate from the West Bank who had been scheduled for release was still being vetted.
Israel was scheduled to free 29 more prisoners from the Gaza Strip, but these were also held back at Kitsyot. Israeli officials cited a technical glitch.
Israeli media said President Shimon Peres had not signed the necessary pardons in time.
The 87 men scheduled for release, all members of Mr Abbas's embattled Fatah or smaller secular factions, had been serving sentences for attacks that did not kill Israelis.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last week they would be required to forswear violence in writing.
The freeing of prisoners is highly emotive for Palestinians. There are 11,000 prisoners held in Israeli jails that Palestinians regard as fighters for freedom from Israeli occupation. Many Israelis say such amnesties encourage violence by Palestinian militants.
Fatah lost control of Gaza in June to Hamas, which rejects peace efforts with Israel that include a Middle East conference planned for November. Palestinians are divided on whether the parley will bring them closer to statehood.
Mr Abbas's office has welcomed the planned prisoner release but said more needed to be done on the issue. The last such gesture by Israel was on July 20th, when some 250 prisoners, most of them from Fatah, went free.
Twenty-nine of the prisoners on today's release roster come from Gaza and the others from the West Bank.