Early Monday morning 198 Palestinian prisoners were released from Ofer Prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Before getting on the buses which would take them to the Beituniya crossing near Jerusalem, the former inmates signed a commitment to never engage in terror activities again. Hundreds of relatives and Fatah members waited at the crossing, for the prisoners released by Israel as a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. While Israel regards the move as a confidence building step between the two sides for upcoming peace negotiations, the Palestinians point out that the prisoner release is only a small step in the right direction. The prisoners were greeted at the Muqataa Presidential Co
