Israeli ministers approve Palestinian prisoners to be freed

JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli ministerial committee yesterday approved the list of more than 250 Palestinian prisoners to be freed as a gesture to president Mahmud Abbas, clearing the way for their release.

"The ministerial committee met this morning and approved the list," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office.

The names of the 256 prisoners -- 11 minors and six women among them -- were published by the prison authority as required by law to allow for any appeals to be filed against the release.

Barring any such appeals, which have to be filed within 48 hours of the publication of the names, the prisoners will be freed on Friday.

The Israeli army also said it has released the former Palestinian education minister Nassereddin al-Shaer, who was a senior member of the Islamist Hamas movement, after nearly a year's detention.

Shaer "has pledged in writing ... to fully renounce his membership of Hamas, and to halt any activities for this terrorist organisation and any other illegal organisation," a spokeswoman said.

Shaer was arrested in May along with other Hamas officials in an Israeli raid.

He had previously been detained from last June to September, in the wake of the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in the Gaza Strip.