Jerusalem: The Israeli cabinet could soon free 100 Palestinian prisoners from Fatah, the party of embattled Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, public radio reported. But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the issue would not be decided at weekly cabinet meeting. "The list of releasable prisoners is not ready because each case has to be carefully examined for security reasons," a senior official told AFP, asking not to be named.
The prisoner release would come on the occasion of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, the radio said. The detainees to be freed would be those who did not take part in deadly attacks on Israelis.

The last prisoner release was on July 20,when as a gesture of support for Abbas whose power has weakened since Hamas's bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip, Israel freed more than 200 Fatah prisoners. However two Israeli far-right parties, the ultra-Orthodox party Shas and Yisrael Beitenu, a Russian far-right party, have already announced they would vote against freeing more Palestinian prisoners. The release of about 11,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons has always be one of the most sensitive issues in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.