Israel released an additional 160 Palestinian prisoners to the Gaza Strip on Thursday, but a dispute between Israeli and Palestinian officials is holding up the release of many more.
Under the terms of the May 4 Cairo agreement for implementing Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the Jericho district in the West Bank, some 5,000 Palestinian prisoners were to have been freed by Israel by Wednesday.
But only about half that number have been released so far.
The release of the remaining prisoners has been held up by an Israeli demand that the prisoners not be allowed to return to their homes, but instead be confined to either Gaza or Jericho until their prison terms expire.
Officials with the Palestine Liberation Organization say the demand runs counter to the Cairo agreement. But the Israelis are stating that Clause 20 of the agreement provides for just such a condition.
While Gazans were celebrating the latest releases, an Israeli student was stabbed Thursday afternoon at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ido Dekel was moderately injured and was operated on at the Hadassah Hospital, where the knife used in the attack was removed from his shoulder.
His attacker, a young Arab from a village near Jerusalem, was later identified and arrested. He told police he wanted to put a stop to the peace process.
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