Over 400 Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel will be released on Sunday morning, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website on Wednesday.

 

The decision to release prisoners was made at a meeting of Israel's prison system on Wednesday, said the report.

 

Before being freed, the prisoners will undergo a series of tests at Ketziot prison near Israel's border with Egypt.

 

According to the report, most of the prisoners on Sunday will first be transferred to the West Bank via the Bitunia checkpoint near Ramallah. Sixteen of the prisoners are residents of the Gaza Strip and will be brought to the Erez checkpoint, which links Gazawith Israel.

 

On Monday, Israeli Cabinet approved the release of 441 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of goodwill to strengthen Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas who demanded Israel free 2,000 security prisoners before a U.S.-sponsored international summit on Middle East peace.

 

A ministerial committee approved on Tuesday a list of 432 prisoners to be released. A number of the inmates that appeared on the original list were removed, because they aligned themselves with Hamas while in prison, said local daily The Jerusalem Post.

 

An estimate of 10,000 Palestinian security prisoners are currently incarcerated in Israeli prisons.

 

The international conference, aimed at reviving the stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, is expected to be held in Annapolis, Maryland next Tuesday.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2007)