Israel freed 159 Palestinian prisoners on Monday, in a move the Palestinian leadership welcomed while calling for the releases of thousands more who remain jailed.

Israel described the prisoner release as a gesture to Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, after the recent freeing of an Israeli who had been convicted of spying and imprisoned in Egypt.

But the Israeli action was also seen as a modest good will offering directed toward Mahmoud Abbas, the favorite in the Jan. 9 presidential election to replace the late Yasir Arafat as leader of the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian leaders have previously described similar prisoner releases as public relations moves. But Mr. Abbas said that he supported the action and that he hoped that it would lead to freedom for many Palestinians serving long sentences.

"I respect the release of every prisoner, but we need a serious release process," he said. "What we are looking for is the release of those have spent many long years in jail."

Actually, as we noted already Palestinian leaders suggested that this release was only just a public relations move.
Anyway according to the Gaza Jericho Agreement Israel was given latitude to determine who could be released as a confidence building measure and releases apparently were limited to those convicted of crimes prior to Sept 13, 1993, the date of the signing of the Declaration of Principles between Israel and the PLO.
Myre, however, makes a significant mistake in his report:

"It's a mixed joy for me because I'm leaving behind colleagues in jail," said Ziyad Kahla, adding that he had served 40 months of a 54-month sentence after a conviction for harboring criminals. He was among a group released near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Actually, Kahla, (prisoner 32 on the list released by the Israel Prison Service) was convicted of possession of a firearm and thowing a Molotov cocktail. I don't know how Myre learned that Kahla was convicted of "harboring criminals." Did he simply take Kahla's word for it? Did he do any additional checking?(Thanks to IMRA for the link.)
I am writing to the Times' public editor and hoping he will correct this inaccuracy.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.