Israel Selects 500 Prisoners to Be Released

The group represents more than half of the 900 prisoners Israel has agreed to release. They are to be freed in a week or so. The remaining 400 are to be freed in the spring.

None of the 500 was involved in attacks on Israelis, a key criterion for previous releases. Most are in the last third of their sentences.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suggested in a newspaper interview last week that future releases might include those with "blood on their hands" as long as the Palestinians made good on their commitment to crack down on armed groups and Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip went smoothly.

The next round of releases is to be coordinated with Palestinian officials under agreements reached at the summit.

The Palestinians want Israel to release most or all of the 8,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Securing freedom for a large number of prisoners, including high-profile Palestinians who have been connected to attacks on Israelis, would boost public backing for newly elected Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sunday's Cabinet action was one of several steps aimed at making good on promised Israeli gestures toward the Palestinians. Officials from the two sides also were discussing arrangements for Israel's plan to yield security responsibility for Jericho, the first of five West Bank towns Israel had agreed to turn over to Palestinian forces.

The Jericho handoff is to occur this week. Transfer of a second town, still to be determined, may take place days after.

In another move, the Israeli military said it would turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinian militants killed in Gaza last year. The militants had carried out attacks or were attempting to when they were killed, the army said. The hand-over was to take place today.

The emerging conciliation with the Palestinians comes amid growing worry among Israeli officials that right-wing Jewish extremists may resort to violence to block Sharon's plan to evacuate Jewish settlements in Gaza and a remote part of the West Bank this year.

In recent days, angry mobs have accosted Education Minister Limor Livnat and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in public. Neither was injured.