Israel freed 29 Palestinian prisoners from Gaza on Tuesday as part of a release intended as a goodwill gesture towards President Mahmud Abbas ahead of another bilateral meeting with Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert.

Fifty-seven prisoners were set free in the West Bank on Monday but a protest by Israeli army chief Gaby Ashkenazi delayed the release of the  Gazans by 24 hours.

He objected to the release of any prisoner from the Strip until Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was handed over by Hamas-affiliated factions who have held him since June 2006. He also demanded the liberation of 1,000 prisoners in exchange for him.

All the prisoners released belong either to the Fatah movement of Abbas or smaller secular factions. No detainees from Hamas, Islamic Jihad or the Resistance Committees were considered.

Israel had originally pledged to free 100 of the 11,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails but unilaterally decided to release only 86 during this, the fasting month of Ramadan, a traditional time of pardoning prisoners.

While welcoming the release of any prisoner, most Palestinians are unlikely to be impressed. Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June of this year, 650 Palestinians have been detained by Israel.

During the week of September 19-25, the UN reported 145 Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank.

Palestinians estimate that one-quarter of those living in the occupied Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem have served at least one term in Israeli jails. Consequently, for Palestinians, the prisoner issue is of great importance. Therefore, Israeli prisoner releases of one, two or three hundred do not make much of an impression and do little to bolster public confidence in Abbas.

‘Abbas, a weak leader’

Indeed, he is seen by most Palestinians as a weak leader who can do nothing to end Israel’s appropriation and colonisation of their land, compel Israel to lift its 577 blockades, barricades, and checkpoints in the West Bank, and end its siege of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians are also highly sceptical of the proposed US-sponsored international conference which they see as an opportunity for Israeli leaders to have their photos taken with Arab rulers without conceding one inch of occupied land to the Palestinians.