President Michel Suleiman hoped on Tuesday that Israel would release all prisoners from its jails, urging it to resume peace negotiations based on the 2002 Arab peace initiative.

President Michel Suleiman hoped on Tuesday that Israel would release all prisoners from its jails, urging it to resume peace negotiations based on the 2002 Arab peace initiative.

He said: “The prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinians should stand as a lesson to Israel that its policies of war and aggression are useless.”

The first phase of the release of 477 Palestinian prisoners took place on Tuesday, with some 550 expected to be released after two months.

In return, Israel ensured the release of soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped five years ago.

Suleiman later held talks on Tuesday with Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on the discussions that took place at the Arab foreign ministers conference on Syria that took place on Sunday.