Israel to free 500 Palestinians on Monday: army

JERUSALEM, Feb 20 (AFP) - Israel plans to free 500 Palestinian prisoners on Monday, the army said in a statement late on Sunday.
"The army and prison authorities must jointly go ahead on Monday with the release of 500 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, detained either for security reasons or under administrative orders" without trial for renewable periods of six months, the statement said.
"These releases will take place, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority and conforming to arrangements reached with Palestinian security officials," it said.
Israeli prison authorities on Wednesday published a list of 500 Palestinian detainees it planned to free, and the supreme court has rejected appeals opposing the releases.
The list was drawn up by a ministerial commission as part of confidence-building steps towards the Palestinian Authority. Of the 500, 382 were Palestinians who had been sentenced to prison terms and 118 were being held in "administrative" detention.
Israel has said it will free some 900 Palestinians out of the 7,600 it is holding.

02/20/2005 20:19 GMT - AFP