Israel Frees Palestinian Prisoners to W.Bank and Gaza

Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday, hours before the two sides were to hold new direct peace talks amid a growing row over settlements.

A group of 15 crossed into the Gaza Strip at about 1:40 am (22:40 GMT) and were mobbed by relatives as they got out of a bus next to the border.

At about the same time another 11 prisoners arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah to a welcome from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and thousands of cheering, dancing supporters.

"This is the first group," Abbas told the crowd at an official welcoming ceremony at his Muqataa headquarters compound.

"We shall continue until we free all the prisoners from Israeli jails," he said.

The 26 were the first batch of some 104 long-term detainees who are to be freed in stages as part of a U.S.-brokered deal which brought Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table on July 30 for the first time in nearly three years.

But Wednesday's talks are likely to be overshadowed by Israel's advancement of plans to build thousands of new homes for Jewish settlers on lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

The prisoner release has been billed as a confidence-building gesture ahead of the meeting of negotiators in Jerusalem which was expected to take place at the King David Hotel in the presence of U.S. mediator Martin Indyk.