Israel releases over 400 Palestinian prisoners

---

KETZIOT, Israel, Dec 3 (AFP): Israel began to free more than 400 Palestinian prisoners early Monday, the latest release aimed at boosting president Mahmud Abbas amid revived peace efforts.
The first bus with the prisoners left the Ketziot prison in Israel's southern Negev desert shortly after 0400 GMT, said an AFP reporter on the scene.
"Today we are releasing 429 prisoners," Yaron Zamir, a spokesman for the Israeli prison authority, told the news agency.
He said 20 of the freed detainees would return to their homes in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, with the rest going to the occupied West Bank.
Monday's release was originally slated to take place days ahead of a Middle East peace conference that took place in the US city of Annapolis on November 27, but was delayed due to unspecified reasons.
The Israeli cabinet approved the release ahead of the US conference as a goodwill gesture to Abbas.