Israel to Free 200 Arabs as a Good-Will Gesture

Israel plans to release at least 200 Palestinian prisoners from jail today so they can be home for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, government officials said Tuesday.

The good-will gesture is also apparently designed to have some effect in Washington, where Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir holds talks with President Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker III this week.

It would be the largest prisoner release since the start of the Arab uprising almost 16 months ago, and it comes amid strong urging from Washington that Israel try to ease tensions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials hedged when asked if the timing and scope of the release were connected with Shamir’s trip as well as with Ramadan.

Relevant Reasons

“If you write that both reasons were relevant, you would be making an intelligent guess,” a Defense Ministry official said. “Of course, because the prime minister is in the United States, everyone should pay more attention.”

Another official said, “Ramadan? Shamiradan!”

Israel holds about 6,000 Palestinians in prison, more than 1,000 of them under military-ordered administrative detention and without benefit of trial. Some of the detainees are organizers of the rebellion. Others are accused of hurling stones. A few are as young as 14. Two weeks ago, Israeli authorities released about 150 Arabs from prison.

The Bush Administration has hinted that Israel should reopen schools in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Israel may use Ramadan as an opportunity to comply, government officials said. It was not clear which schools might be reopened and at what grade levels.

Lengthy School Closures

Schools throughout the West Bank have been closed virtually since the start of the uprising. Israeli authorities in the Gaza Strip have been more lenient, closing the schools only from time to time. The government regards schools as a hotbed of unrest even though there has been no notable reduction in violence since their closure.

The army plans to return loudspeakers to several mosques so they can be used for calling the faithful to prayer. The loudspeakers, which are customarily mounted on tall minarets at most mosques, were taken down because they have sometimes been used to incite Arabs to protest or to attack soldiers.

Ramadan, which begins Friday, is the holiest month of the Islamic calendar. A time of fasting and prayer, it marks the period when, according to Muslims, the Prophet Mohammed received the verses of the Koran from God. More than 80% of the 1.7 million residents of the West Bank and Gaza are Muslims.

On Tuesday, the intifada, or uprising, maintained its pace. There were several violent protests in the West Bank and Gaza. In Jerusalem, a stone-throwing incident on Salah Edin Street, the main Arab shopping area, prompted police to order shops closed and to seal off the street. A tourist was hit in the head with a rock, and a public bus was stoned.

The latest leaflet of guidelines from the underground leadership of the intifada calls for stepped-up violence in the coming weeks.