Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to start as prisoner release approved Mr. Netanyahu's agreement to the release of prisoners, who have been held since before the 1993 Oslo agreement with the Palestinians, spares him from making more difficult concessions in line with Palestinian demands. They had called for a halt to illegal Israeli settlement construction and a commitment to the 1967 borders - before Israel captured Gaza and the West Bank - as the basis for a peace deal with land swaps. "This is not an easy moment for me and not easy for the ministers and especially difficult for the bereaved families," Mr Netanyahu told the ministers. "But there are moments where I need to make tough decisions for the good fo the country and this is one of those moments. I believe resuming the political process at this time is important for Israel." he said. Nearby, hundreds of relatives of those killed by the Palestinian prisoners and their supporters protested, with families holding up pictures of slain loved ones and chanting "terrorists must not be freed." Israeli media reported that one of those to be set free is Mohammed Daoud, convicted in 1989 of throwing a petrol bomb that killed a pregnant woman Ofra Moses and her five-year-old son Tal as they travelled to their West Bank settlement. The prisoner release issue is also very emotive for Palestinians, who view them as freedom fighters left behind in prison after their commanders, such as Yasser Arafat, negotiated self-rule agreements with Israel. Their continued incarceration has been an embarrassment to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority which governs the West Bank, especially after Hamas, the rival movement that controls Gaza, succeeded in freeing more than one thousand prisoners held by Israel in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Sunday that efforts would continue to procure the release of all "political prisoners." Israel continues to hold over 5,000 Palestinian inmates, according to the Palestine Liberation Organisation. "This is an overdue step towards implementation of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement of 1999 whereby Israel committed to release all pre-Oslo prisoners," he said.