Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called a bid to bolster moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a Gaza pullout.Israel freed 500 prisoners on February 21 after Abbas and Sharon announced a ceasefire at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Sharon later suspended the promised release of 400 more, citing Palestinian inaction in disarming militants.‘‘Even those who believe the events of the coming months could strengthen extremist terrorist forces, must understand the need to bolster the main, moderate element of the Palestinian Authority and carry out what we promised,’’ Sharon told the cabinet in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio.The announcement was widely seen in Israel as an attempt to head off complaints by Abbas, at White House talks he held last Thursday with US President George W. Bush, that Sharon was hindering his efforts to promote peace.‘‘This is, more or less, a public relations stunt because the whole process ignores the main problem—the release of 360 prisoners jailed before (interim peace deals in the 1990s),’’ said Sofian Abu Zaydeh, Palestinian Minister of Prisoner Affairs. No release date was set. The names of the 400 inmates must first be published under Israeli law on a Prisons Authority Internet site to enable anyone opposed to their release to file a judicial appeal.Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Hebron on Sunday, a Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli soldier, who then shot him dead, the Army said. —Reuters
