i24news

PublishedApril 01st 2014

 

                                                      

Israeli-Palestinian deal reportedly taking shape

Deal would include Israeli release of Palestinian inmates and settlement freeze, release of Israeli spy by US
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed his Likud party minister Tuesday on a deal taking shape with the Palestinians, according to which Israel will free Palestinian prisoners and freeze construction in West Bank settlements - in return for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from a US jail and Palestinian agreement to continue peace talks with Israel. Netanyahu's briefing, as reported by Israeli media, came shortly after Secretary of State John Kerry left Israel.
"We are waiting for the Palestinian answer to the proposal," said an Israeli source close to the negotiations.
According to the Israeli and Palestiniann sources,Kerry has presented the sides with a trilateral deal that includes the following elements:

• Israel will free an originally planned group of 26 Palestinian prisoners who have been serving more than 20 years in jail for terror-related offenses, including 14 Palestinian citizens of Israel. In addition, Israel will free some 400 Palestinian prisoners who were convicted of lesser offenses, not murder. Many of them will be women and teenagers.
• Israel will freeze some construction in West Bank settlements - but only government-funded building and only projects that are not yet under way - but not in east Jerusalem (an area also claimed by the Palestinians for their future state);
• The Palestinians will agree to engage in talks with Israel until the end of 2014;
• The United States will free jailed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who has served 28 years of a life sentence in a US jail – a move designed to make the Israeli concessions more palatable to Netanyahu's coalition hardliners and the Israeli public. Pollard, according to the Israeli source, will be freed within the coming two weeks, before the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Kerry will consult with President Barack Obama and come back to the region in the coming days, according to these sources.
Kerry left Tuesday morning for a NATO meeting in Brussels after a 15-hour stop in Israel and two meetings with Netanyahu. He did not meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but did meet with his negotiators to the peace talks.
The Palestinians had given the top diplomat until Tuesday to resolve the dispute with Israel over the release of prisoners.
The talks have been teetering on the brink of collapse since Israel failed to release the veteran Palestinians prisoners on Saturday, under an agreement that brought the sides back to the negotiating table in July 2013.
Israel will 'bear the consequences'
"If we don't get an answer from John Kerry on the prisoners tonight, we'll begin to ask for membership in all UN agencies tomorrow (Tuesday)," independent Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghuti told AFP.
Israel earlier agreed to release a total of 104 prisoners in four stages but after it refused to free the fourth and final batch of prisoners on March 29, the Palestinians said that all bets are off, with officials warning Israel would "bear the consequences" of its decisions.
The Palestinian leadership agreed there would be no extension of the peace talks without a "comprehensive" freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, two separate sources told AFP.
The talks, which have so far yielded no obvious results, are due to draw to a close on April 29 and US efforts are currently focused on getting the parties to agree an extension to the end of the year.
The question of an extension has become intricately tied up with the fate of the 26 prisoners.
Just a day ahead of the expected releases, Israel said it would not free detainees convicted of deadly attacks unless the Palestinians would commit to extending the negotiations.
'One-time opportunity'
On Monday, Israel's opposition leader Isaac Herzog traveled to Jordan and discussed the Middle East peace process with King Abdullah II.
"There is a one-time opportunity to reach an agreement in the Middle East, and we must find the formula that doesn’t blow up the negotiations,” Abdullah told Herzog, according to a statement from Herzog’s office.
The palace issued a brief statement confirming the two met to discuss "efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians under the sponsorship of the United States," but did not elaborate.