clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israel demands extension of negotiations to free Palestinian prisoners

April 12, 2014 at 12:31 pm

The Israeli government is now demanding an extension of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks for another year as a condition for releasing the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli sources revealed on Sunday.


Israel fears that if the peace talks stall then the Palestinians will go to the United Nations to seek full sovereign recognition and to join UN bodies, especially the International Criminal Court in the Hague in order to sue the Israeli occupation, a move that the Palestinians cannot do as long as the peace talks are still in process.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted on Sunday an Israeli politician who warned that, “if the Americans do not ensure extending the negotiations for another year, Israel will not release even one Palestinian prisoner.”

An Israeli official added that it would be “inconceivable” for Israel to release “terrorists and [then] two weeks later for the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to break the rules and go to the United Nations.”

According to an earlier pledge in summer 2013, Israel had agreed to release a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners, including those living in Israel, by the end of March if the Palestinians consented to the negotiations over a period of nine months; however, those negotiations are scheduled to end in April and Israel is now seeking an extension.

According to the newspaper, the Israeli official claims that Israel would agree to release the prisoners by April, but not those living in Israel. “US Secretary of State John Kerry pledged to the Palestinians to release prisoners living in Israel, but not Israel,” noted the official.

The newspaper pointed out that the majority of Israeli ministers would not support releasing any Palestinian prisoners living in Israel.