Palestinian prisoners' release is delayed - but why?

Are the Israelis trying to destabilize Mahmoud Abbas with this leak?

JERUSALEM – Israeli officials said Monday they would delay the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners until next week because of a request by Palestinian officials.
They said the Palestinian officials had asked for the delay because President Mahmoud Abbas is out of the country and wants to be back in the West Bank to greet the freed prisoners.

Note that if they were immediately released they could spend eid with their families.

[From Israel to delay Palestinian prisoner release - Yahoo! News]

Comments

[ash-shakkak]

Why would the Israelis want to destabilize Abbas?

Anyway it seems he's doing a fine job of making himself more unpopular. See the shameful bickering between Hamas and Abbas over Gazan Hajj visas: http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article2.aspx?ArticleID=189601" rel="nofollow">Hamas Joins Quraish Infidels; Denies Hajjis Access: Abu Mazen.

“The Gaza Strip quota was 3500 visas, but Hamas rejected this and tried to insert unauthenticated new names at a time such an action is difficult to be approved. They insisted on depriving Gazans of performing this duty,” Abu Mazen said.

But Hamas said these figures are incorrect and that more than 19,000 Palestinians have participated in an open lot organized by the Ministry of Endowments of Ismail Haneya’s government, and 2200 persons won visas live on the air. But names have been replaced randomly through favoritism and nepotism, and visas were not sent to Gazans to perform hajj. And Saudi Arabia said it has rejected giving visas to any Palestinian from Gaza and that it handed over all visas to the Palestinian National Authority.

[arabist]

Who knows why, but this report certainly makes him look bad!

I had seen that report, I love Abbas' Islamist attack on the Islamists!

[Ambika]

report most certainly makes him look bad. and its not helping anyone, infact its doing mroe harm to their own people. especially in the light of all the clashes between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority on the Haj issue. They are giving the Israelis more rope and opportunity to further derail the whole peace process.