The radio station reported that the released prisoners, who signed written statements pledging not to engage in terrorist acts, were led in shackles onto buses at the Ketziot prison camp in a southern Israeli desert, to be transported to the Betunia crossing near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
On arrival in Ramallah, the prisoners, who have hero status among Palestinians, will meet with the president at his headquarters, the radio said.
The list of prisoners to be freed was drawn up Sunday in line with a pledge made at a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh three weeks ago, and includes only Palestinians who have not directly killed or injured Israelis. Israel continues to hold over 9,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The release involves mostly loyalists of pro-presidential Fatah, and a smaller contingent from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
However, Israel refused to set free any members of Hamas, which seized control over the Gaza Strip following violent clashes with Fatah supporters one month ago.
Hamas, still considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Israel, and the European Union, won a parliamentary majority at elections in January last year, defeating Fatah and setting the stage for the subsequent standoff.
A shaky coalition government established in March 2006 was dissolved in June 2007 after fierce fighting between the two factions, which left Abbas's Fatah in control of only the West Bank.
