Abbas unveils agreement with Israel to free more prisoners

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday revealed that he had made an agreement with Israel to free more Palestinian prisoners. "I don't prattle a secret if I said that there is an agreement between us and the Israeli government to free a group of prisoners similar to this one," Abbas said when he received about 100 prisoners in the West Bank. But nothing will happen before the second stage of this deal completes, he added. Hamas and Israel reached a prison swap deal last week which saw the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and 477 Palestinian inmates on Tuesday and another 550 in two months. Abbas called on Israel on Tuesday to respect the agreement and "meet the pledge if they respect it," revealing that his agreement with Israel was reached before peace talks between the two sides broke down last year. He stressed that the prisoner issue will remain on the top of the schedule in any future negotiations with Israel. Abbas also promised to continue efforts to free senior leaders of Fatah and other factions who Israel refused to include in Tuesday's swap.