JERUSALEM [MENL] -- Israel has agreed to a U.S. request to release detainees
from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.Israeli officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
pledged to release an undetermined number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members
from Israeli prisons over the next few weeks. They said Hamas would be
included in an Israeli program to release Palestinian detainees who have not
been convicted of killing Israelis.Officials said several hundred Hamas detainees, most of them clerics,
could be released under the commitment relayed by the Sharon government.
Nearly 7,000 Palestinians were said to be detained in Israeli jails and the
Palestinian Authority has been calling for a release of all of the
prisoners.Last week, the Sharon government said it would not release Hamas or
Islamic Jihad prisoners. The government assertion had sparked warnings that
Hamas would not honor its commitment to suspend attacks against Israel for
the next three months.
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