The Magic Number: It's 450
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the cabinet will vote on Monday on the release of another five hundred 'Palestinian'Ministers will be asked to approve the release of some 500 prisoners, far short of the 2,000 inmates the Palestinians want to see freed ahead of the conference in Annapolis, Maryland.Channel 2 reported on Friday night that the US and Saudi Arabia are pressuring Israel to release more terrorists, including the release of 'hundreds' of terrorists per month after the Annapolis mugging.
Palestinian officials say a release is only meaningful if Israel eases its criteria and frees longtime inmates who were involved in violent attacks, instead of short-term inmates who have little time left to serve.
Regarding the possible prisoner release, Channel 2 reported that an Israeli team that returned from the US on Friday said that both the US and Saudi Arabia were pressing Israel to free far more Palestinian security prisoners than Olmert has announced he plans to release ahead of Annapolis.You may recall that I reported last Sunday that the Olmert-Barak-Livni governemnt is looking into changing the definition of 'blood on their hands' to facilitate the release of more 'Palestinian' terrorists. But until now, no one has been clear on what the 'magic number' is: How many 'Palestinian' terrorists can be released under the current criteria. Israel Radio reported on its 11:00 PM and Midnight news broadcasts tonight that the 'Israeli team' mentioned above gave the Americans a number: 450. That's how many you can expect the cabinet to vote to release on Monday. After that? It depends what happens at Annapolis.
Furthermore, a senior official told The Jerusalem Post that the defense establishment was examining the ramifications of a proposal being drafted to release several hundred prisoners per month after Annapolis.
The idea behind the plan, which has yet to be presented to Olmert, is that quiet on the "Palestinian street" - required for fruitful negotiations - can be achieved by releasing a significant number of prisoners every month.
"If the summit is successful and negotiations ensue, then it might be necessary to keep the Palestinians happy and quiet," an official said. "One way to do that is to release prisoners."
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:12 AM
2 Comments:
There is nothing that infuriates me more than these prisoner releases as good will gestures. How can any government claiming to be moderate or peaceful, require as a good will gesture that terrorists be released. It betrays the Palestinians very core and Israel is too stupid or scared to do anything about it.
If the US wants the Israelis to release terrorists, it can release one ill Israeli sitting unjustly in a federal prison.
If the Palestinians want terrorists released, they can at least release Gilad Shalit.
I would have hoped that Jewish defeatism died in a bunker in Berlin. Never again has turned into, oh God, not again.
I'm in the US and don't understand why Israelis put up with this insanity. Please can you tell me, what are the ideas about how to avoid going to Annapolis in the first place (not about how to deal with repercussions afterwards), and what kind of support do such ideas have?
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