Israel set to release 250 Palestinian prisoners

Israel approved on Sunday the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with rival Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The prisoners, a fraction of the 11,000 Palestinians held, will be released in the occupied West Bank, where Abbas's government holds sway, before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, officials said of the decision, which was approved 13 to 5 by Israel's cabinet.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had promised to free the prisoners earlier this months in his first meeting in two months with Abbas, who launched peace talks with Israel a year ago after Gaza's takeover by Hamas.

"This is a confidence-building measure," said Olmert spokesman Mark Regev.

Regev said Israel will release prisoners from the ranks of Abbas's secular Fatah faction and other non-Islamist groups

Some lawmakers opposed the gesture, which Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai from the ultra-Orthdox Shas party called “very dangerous, strange and dubious."

Israel has not said whether it would consider freeing high profile Fatah inmates such as uprising leader Marwan Barghouthi, who is seen as a possible successor to Abbas as Palestinian president.

Nearly 200 prisoners were freed by Israel in August. Such releases are highly emotive for Palestinians, who regard prisoners as symbols of resistance to Israeli occupation.

U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Olmert and Abbas, rejected by Hamas, have shown little sign of progress.

This is a confidence-building measure

Mark Regev, spokesman