Mideast peace talks set to begin after Israel agrees to free 104 Palestinian prisoners The release of Palestinian prisoners was one of the major roadblocks to the peace talks. Calling the prisoner decision "painful for the entire nation," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the approval of his divided cabinet earlier Sunday to release the Palestinian inmates, many convicted of killing Israelis, to help restart peace talks brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry. The list of prisoners who may be released in coming days includes militants who threw firebombs, in one case at a bus carrying children; stabbed and shot civilians, including women, elderly Jews and suspected Palestinian collaborators; and ambushed and killed border guards, police officers, security agents and soldiers. All of them have been in prison for at least two decades; some were serving life sentences. The Israeli public views these prisoners as terrorists who have blood on their hands. Palestinians see them as freedom fighters struggling to reclaim their homeland and oust the occupiers. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his leadership refused to return to the negotiating table without their release. Regardless of whether it is a grudging gesture of goodwill, diplomatic blackmail or something in between, Netanyahu's move is a major concession to Kerry and the Palestinians. In a sign of Israeli divisions over the prisoner release, the vote among Netanyahu's cabinet ministers was 13 to 7, with two abstentions. In a parallel move, the cabinet also approved Netanyahu's call for a national referendum that would allow voters to approve or reject any peace deal he makes. Israeli officials said the prisoners will be released in four stages over the next nine months, with the first release to take place soon after the initial talks in Washington. Erekat called it "a step toward peace" and said, "I hope that we can use this opportunity that the U.S. has provided for us to resume negotiations," according to the Associated Press. More prisoners would be freed as negotiations continue, though Netanyahu warned that "every Palestinian provocation will result in halting of the prisoner- release process." The Israeli prime minister called the prisoners he was about to release "depraved people, even if most of them have been in prison for over 20 years." This is not the first time that Netanyahu has struck such a deal. In 2011, the Israeli government traded about 1,000 Palestinian and Arab Israeli prisoners for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier abducted by Hamas militants near the Kerem Shalom crossing into the Gaza Strip in 2006. He had been held for five years.