RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Hundreds of people gave a heroes' welcome on Monday to more than 200 Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel.

Sporting traditional black and white scarves and caps stamped with the Palestinian flag, the released inmates got off five buses in the centre of the West Bank town of Ramallah to cheers from the crowd.
Abbas, who led the welcoming ceremony, kissed and hugged the prisoners, most of whom are members of his secular Fatah movement. Israel released 210 prisoners from the occupied West Bank as well as 17 Gazans.
“Our joy will not be complete until all 11,000 prisoners are freed,” Abbas said in reference to the Palestinians still held in Israel.
“I promise you that there will be other groups like the one today until there is an end to the suffering of all our detainees,” Abbas told the crowd in the courtyard of his headquarters.
The release came just hours after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected attempts by two organizations to block the move by arguing that the freed prisoners would “resume their terrorist activities.”
Israel's cabinet last month approved the release as a gesture to Abbas, whose West Bank-based administration is leading the peace talks with Israel. None are accused of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.
Olmert told Abbas at their last meeting in November of his plan to release 250 prisoners, but a government committee approved only 230 names.
The committee ruled out freeing prisoners who belong to Islamic resistance groups such as Hamas.
The decision to free the Palestinians was widely seen as an attempt to strengthen so-called moderates against Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas.