Itongadol.- Israel was preparing Tuesday evening to free 26 Palestinian prisoners to help underpin renewed peace talks, after its High Court rejected an appealagainst their release by relatives of some of the Israelis they killed.
The release was expected to begin at around 9 P.M. The men, arrested between 1985 and 2001, were to return to homes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli official said they would be taken in vehicles with sealed windows to prevent a repetition of scenes in which released Palestinian prisoners have stretched out their hands in V-for-Victory signs.
Disdain for the prisoners is strong in Israel, whose media have featured detailed accounts of their attacks on Israelis since a release roster was published two days ago. Palestinians regard the men as heroes in a struggle for statehood.
The three-justice High Court panel ruled the government had been within its purview to free them, although Chief Justice Asher Grunis wrote in the decision that "our hearts are with the families, who are victims of terror".