?This is a positive step from the Israeli government,? said Information Minister, Nabil Amr. But he said he hoped to see further releases from the more than 6,000 Palestinians believed to be in custody.

Other Palestinian officials have dismissed the move as a stunt aimed at pleasing Washington. Militant groups which are observing a fragile ceasefire have warned they will stand for nothing less than the release of all those held by Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon is in the United States and will hold talks today with President George W. Bush. On the agenda are Israeli plans to build a security wall to separate the West Bank from Israel ? a measure which the Palestinians say would ruin their chances of independence. ?We hope that we will see more releases of further batches of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails,? said Amr after the news.

The Israeli army also dismantled checkpoints near the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Hebron and is due to authorise the entry into Israel of 5,000 more workers from the Gaza Strip, 3,000 from Bethlehem and 500 female workers from Tulkarem.

?Credibility?

Israeli Justice Minister, Yosef Lapid suggested the releases would ease pressure on Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen.

?We are not very happy about it because the prisoners may return to acts of terror but we think that in order to give Abu Mazen more credibility in the Palestinian camp we should release them,? he said.

However, according to Israeli radio, Finance Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu made clear to a cabinet that the releases were aimed at boosting the hand of Sharon at his forthcoming talks with President Bush.

The Islamic militants to be freed have not been involved in attacks on Israelis. Although the overall total to be released is lower than expected, it includes more than twice the number of Islamists previously reported.

The PA?s Minister of Prisoners? Affairs, Hisham Abd al-Raziq, dismissed the releases as a publicity stunt. ?The move is meant to enable Sharon to evade US pressure on all issues, including the issue of prisoners and detainees,? he said.

Diane Buttu, a legal adviser to the PA, said Israel was ?simply throwing the Palestinians a couple of crumbs and trying to get a great deal of leverage out of it.? Among the militant groups, the message was that all prisoners should go free.

?We say clearly that if they do not release all the Palestinian and Arab detainees then they will violate the conditions of the suspensions of operations by Hamas and they will be responsible for the results,? said Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, Hamas?s political leader.

The releases plane will affect :

• 210 prisoners from the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad

• 210 with links toYasser Arafat?s Fatah faction

• 120 people jailed for criminal offences