Mission: Condoleezza Rice arrives in Tel Aviv yesterday

Nearly 200 jailed Palestinians were freed by Israel yesterday as a goodwill gesture hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s latest peace mission to the region.

Among those released was Said al-Atba, who served 32 years of a life sentence for masterminding a 1977 bombing that killed a woman.

Al-Atba, 57, was the longestserving Palestinian inmate in Israel.

Another prisoner had served 28 years. He was greeted by his children now aged 32, 29 and 27.

Also among those freed were a 16-year-old girl who was jailed for trying to stab an Israeli soldier and a young mother who had been in prison with her baby since January 2007.

The prisoners received a heroes’ welcome on their return to the West Bank, where thousands of people joined celebration rallies at the headquarters of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and in other towns.

There are 9,000 prisoners still in Israel and Abbas, who is struggling to show his people the fruits of the peace talks, has repeatedly called for a large-scale release.

On her arrival, Miss Rice praised the prisoner release. ‘This matters a lot to the Palestinians and it is obviously a sign of goodwill,’ she said.

The trip is Miss Rice’s seventh since peace talks were relaunched last year.

She is trying to broker an agreement by the end of the year.