Baku-APA. The West is pressuring Israel to release some Palestinian prisoners as part of the efforts to resume the Mideast peace process, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
Western diplomats briefed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on these confidence building efforts, said Ziad Abu Ein, Palestinian deputy minister for prisoners' affairs.
However, he said the Palestinian National Authority has not yet received any official message from Israel about its plan to release any prisoners, even after the Palestinians have intensified protests in solidarity with some hunger-striking detainees.
He stressed that Israel has to release some prisoners as "a priority obligation" to restart the peace negotiations.
According to well-informed sources, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to release 20 prisoners whose health is in critical conditions and hundreds others whose sentences will end soon.
The Israeli-Palestinian negotiations came to a halt in 2010 after Israel refused to extend a freeze on its settlement activities in the West Bank.
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