JERUSALEM: Israel will release 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners ahead of renewed peace talks set for later this week, an official statement said late Sunday.
Following the government decision the Israel Prisons Service published the names of the 26 selected to be freed ahead of the talks.
The detailed list, published shortly after the announcement, includes the prisoners' names, felonies, date of arrest as well as the names of their victims.
Late on Sunday night, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a panel had decided upon the identity of the prisoners to be released within the next two days, the first of 104 long-term Palestinian and Arab Israeli prisoners to be freed in four stages, depending on progress in the talks.
"Following the government decision to renew peace talks with the Palestinians and appoint a ministerial committee to free prisoners during negotiations... the committee approved the release of 26 prisoners," a statement from Netanyahu's office read.
Fourteen of the prisoners will be transferred to the Gaza Strip and the other 12 to the West Bank.
"Eight of the prisoners on the list are set to be freed in the upcoming three years, two of them in the next six months," said the statement. "The release of the prisoners will take place at least 48 hours after publication of the list."
