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CU Egyptian flag PAN ACROSS TO Customs gate AND PAN TO Immigration hut at El-Arish
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CU Immigration Department sign TILT DOWN TO SV man in uniform
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CU & PULL BACK TO GV Men getting off bus and walking through customs gate
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CU One former prisoner AND PULL BACK TO GV men and reporters
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SV Policeman PAN ACROSS TO released prisoners
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CU & PULL BACK Cameraman among released prisoners
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Israel has releases six Palestinians to Egypt as part of the continuing easing of relations between the two countries. The men were handed over at El-Arish in the Sinai during a visit by the defence ministers of Egypt and Israel.

SYNOPSIS: For the first time in its long history, El-Arish is a border post, and thus an obvious location for the handing over of the six Palestinians. Until last January, the town had been part of Israeli-occupied Sinai, but lies just inside the area given back to Egypt under the Camp David Agreement. The prisoners, including members of the Fatah commando organisation, had been serving terms ranging from two-and-a-half years to fifteen years in Israeli prisons.

Their release was timed to coincide with a visit to El-Arish by Egyptian Defence Minister General Kamal Hassan Ali, and Israeli Defence Minister Ezer Weizman. But only a few newsmen and students were on hand to greet the men. One of the released had served almost nine of a twelve-year sentence. But the improved Egyptian-Israeli relations meant that one of his companions here avoided serving eleven years of his fifteen-year stretch.