Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    GAZA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday said the expected release of some 200 Palestinian prisoners was an Israeli bid to widen Palestinian internal crack.

    In a statement sent to the media, Hamas said that most of the prisoners, whom the Israeli Cabinet approved their release today, were affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

    "This is an attempt to boost the interior Palestinian split by supporting one party against the other," Hamas' statement said.

    Israel says the releasing decision, which still waits the approval of a special ministerial committee on Monday, was a goodwill gesture to Abbas to strengthen the peace talks.

    But for Hamas, which rejects the peace negotiations, the gesture was "an attempt to give an impression that the chairman of the (Palestinian) Authority could achieve something via the settlement negotiations with the (Israeli) occupation ... and no one believes this," Hamas' statement read.

    Hamas holds an Israeli soldier hostage since 2006 and tries, through Egypt, to broker a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. "What our people want is the release of prisoners from all Palestinian factions and this is one of the main conditions" that Hamas set for the exchange.