Israel has begun releasing nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners in what it says is a gesture meant to bolster moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
The first of the men are leaving the prison on the edge of the West Bank just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives on her latest peace mission.
Abbas has repeatedly urged Israel to free some of the 9,000 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.
The Israeli government approved the release last week. Among the people being freed Monday is a militant mastermind who carried out a deadly market bombing three decades ago.
