I made a release for my 98 XJ, using a length of stainless steel wire.

I just removed the inner plastic cover, and took a real close look at how the latch worked when released with the outside handle.

Then I attached the wire (to the lock release lever, that the rod operates) and ran it through a little hole I drilled in the plastic inner hatch cover. This hole was about 1/3 of the way down the plastic panel from the glass.

One thing to note though, I never tried it with the hatch locked to see if it still works.

I didn't take pics & don't really want to take it back apart, but it only took about 45 minutes to do the whole job.

Also I used a little tee handle I had from an old B&M shifter to tie to the end of the wire for a pull. You could use a large flat washer though.

The stainless wire was fairly soft & about 16 gauge.