Israel Matzav

Who's the liar?

In an earlier post, I reported the Israeli claim that Israel had never agreed to free 'Israeli Arab' terrorists as part of the 'gestures' to bring the 'Palestinians' to the 'negotiating table.' I noted that Israel said it would be willing to consider freeing those terrorists in exchange for the release of Jonathan Pollard by the United States. In a later post, I reported that President Obama refuses to free Pollard under any circumstances.

In the meantime, the 'Palestinians' are claiming that they received assurances from the United States that 'all' 'pre-Oslo' terrorists would be released in the fourth group. 'All' includes 'Israeli Arab' terrorists.

During a Tuesday meeting with a committee representing Palestinian prisoners from areas inside Israel, Abbas said an agreement was in place stipulating that veteran prisoners from "1948 areas" would also be released in conjunction with the current set of peace talks, the statement said.

The list of those to be released was approved by Israel and the United States mediators, Abbas was quoted as saying.

The statement said that Palestinian negotiators phoned the American mediators to discuss remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concerning veteran prisoners who hold Israeli citizenship.

The Americans confirmed that all prisoners detained before Oslo would be freed, including those with Israeli citizenship, the statement said.

Someone here is lying. Are the 'Palestinians' lying about the promises they received from John Kerry? Are the Israelis lying about the commitments that they received from Kerry?  Or did Kerry lie to push the 'negotiations' forward by telling each side what it wanted to hear, figuring that he would deal with the contradictions later?

Hmmm.

The good news is that releasing Jonathan Pollard is finally being discussed in the United States. In an op-ed column that is full of factual misstatements, the Boston Globe implies that the real issue holding up Pollard's release now is - you guessed it - the desire of the Obama administration to hold Pollard hostage for further Israeli concessions later.

Some Israeli analysts believe that Pollard could be a key bargaining chip for Kerry to get Israel to make deeper concessions to the Palestinians.

“If Kerry feels Netanyahu needs Pollard to make such a historic decision,” Barak Ravid wrote Tuesday in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, “he won’t hesitate to try to persuade Obama to release Pollard.”

Holding Pollard hostage for further concessions is patently unjust. We ought to be able to expect better from the world's oldest democracy.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli Arabs are a fifth column, John Kerry, Jonathan Pollard, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:38 AM