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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Palestinians reject Israeli proposal as 'blackmail' |
| 2014-04-01 |
| [Ynet] Proposal reportedly includes release of 420 additional prisoners chosen by Israel, and partial settlement freeze that doesn't include East Jerusalem, existing tenders. The Palestinians have rejected an Israeli proposal to extend the crumbling peace talks beyond April 29, saying it was akin to "blackmail," an official in Ramallah told AFP on Monday. A source close to the talks told Rooters that under the proposed arrangement to extend peace talks, Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy analyst caught spying for Israel in the 1980s, could be released by mid-April. But the White House said it had no new information to offer on Pollard. "He is a person who is convicted of espionage and is serving his sentence, and I don't have any update on his situation," White House front man Jay Carney told news hounds when asked whether Pollard's release was something that could be offered as an incentive to Israel. According to a Paleostinian official who spoke with AFP, Israel presented Abbas with a draft agreement on Sunday to push forward with the talks. Abbas was to examine the proposal, he said. Israel did not make good on its commitment to free 26 Paleostinian prisoners on March 29, a key plank in the original US-brokered terms to relaunch the grinding of the peace processor, citing lack of progress in talks, which Israel claims was a condition for the release. Under the deal that relaunched the peace talks, Israel agreed to release 104 prisoners, held since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords, in exchange for the Paleostinians freezing all efforts to seek further international recognition. So far, Israel has freed 78 of them in three batches, and the last group - which the Paleostinians insist includes 14 Arab Israelis incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! for nationalist attacks - was to have been released on March 29. Israel, on Friday, informed the Paleostinians it would not free the, with the US State Department confirming it was working "intensively" to resolve the dispute. The Paleostinians say they will not even consider extending the talks without the prisoners being freed, but Israel has refused to release them without a Paleostinian commitment to continue the talks, prompting a fresh crisis of confidence. "The ball is now in Israel's court," Issa Qaraqaa, the Paleostinian prisoners' minister, told Voice of Paleostine radio, saying the leadership was expecting an answer from the Israeli government within 24 hours. |
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