With first 26 terrorists set for release next Tuesday, state goes to court to defend their release
At the meeting, preparations for the upcoming rounds of talks were discussed. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that a schedule for the talks was agreed upon in Washington and that the next round of talks will be held in Jerusalem on August 14, with the following round to take place a week later in Jericho.
According to Erekat, Israel will release the first group of Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday, a day before the next round of talks. The first group will comprise 26 Palestinian security prisoners, who were jailed prior to the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Ahead of resuming the peace talks last week, Israel had agreed to a four-stage release of 104 pre-Oslo prisoners, including some who are considered "heavyweights terrorists."
Erekat also denied reports that, in addition to the official talks, there is a secret channel via which Israel and the Palestinians have reached the advanced stages ahead of an agreement.
Erekat stressed that Israel and the U.S. have been told that the Palestinians will not agree to a framework or interim deal before the signing of a permanent peace agreement. "We won't permit the continuation of the status quo and settlement expansion in the guise of an interim deal," he said.
And from the second link.
After Tuesday's meeting, top Palestinian officials said they were not predicting a significant breakthrough in negotiations with Israel.
In the state’s response, it noted that the government’s decision to release the 104 prisoners went to the government’s fundamental authority over affairs of state and stated that court intervention would be a significant, unjustified encroachment on that authority.
Next, the response explains the factors that went into the decision, including the government’s belief that overall the prisoner release gives Israel the potential for improving its security situation by potentially resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Recounting statements made by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during the cabinet’s four hour debate on the issue, the state noted his statements that resolving the conflict would also improve Israel’s ability to handle the ongoing unstable “Arab Spring” developments in the region as well as to better isolate threats stemming from Iran.
The state added that the release was spread out into four rounds over nine months to better ensure that each round would only occur if the Palestinian side was acting in good faith regarding its peace process obligation.
More specifically, the state said that although the first release was set for August 13, the next releases would not be for four, six and eight months respectively.
Regarding the specific prisoners to be released, the state said that most of their crimes came before the 1993 Oslo Accords, meaning at a time when Israel and the Palestinians were in an unambiguous state of conflict, and that most had already served between 20-30 year prison sentences.
The state added that if any of the prisoners violated the terms of their pardons, they would be rearrested.Fantasyland. Do they really think they can just walk up to these people in the streets and rearrest them?
Next, the state noted that the court had repeatedly upheld its authority to make prisoner release deals, including most recently during the Gilad Schalit deal, and that the state had complied with court-imposed obligations to reveal information on the release to those families that had requested information, and that the state would reveal the full list at least 48 hours before the transfer.All true. But this is a new level in callousness. Never before has the state released murderers and gotten nothing in return. It sets a very dangerous precedent.
And by the way, what happened to Abu Mazen's trip to Saudi Arabia?
Labels: Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:45 PM
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