Jewish Home to forward bill against the move; prisoners expected to be freed Tuesday in 2nd of 4-stage deal as part of peace talks
A Sunday ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to approve the names of 25 Palestinian prisoners set to go free this Tuesday, in the second phase of a 4-stage prisoner release deal as part of ongoing US-brokered peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. The release will be accompanied by the announcement of new plans for West Bank settlement construction, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday.
The official said the Americans and Palestinians were aware of Israel’s intentions to build more settlements, made clear before talks resumed
The official insisted that any new construction would take place inside the major blocs Israel would probably keep in any future peace deal. In previous rounds of negotiations, the
Palestinians agreed to swap some West Bank land for Israeli territory to allow Israel to annex the largest settlement blocs adjacent to its border.
Netanyahu has faced pressure from hawkish ministers to delay or cancel the prisoner releases in the wake of a series of violent incidents in the West Bank in recent weeks, including the killing of two IDF soldiers and an attack that wounded a nine-year-old girl in the settlement of Psagot.
Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party is set to raise a bill against further releases of Palestinian prisoners on Sunday.
MK Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home told Channel 2 Saturday that Jewish Home has made its opposition clear to Netanyahu.
“We told the prime minister that we are against release of terrorists. It’s immoral. No other country in the world does it,” she said, adding incredulously, “we release terrorists as a gesture [to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and he promotes a boycott against us?”
In a statement on Thursday, the party said, “the attempt to link the release of the murderers to construction tenders is manipulative and morally wrong. It will be better if the prime minister does not release murderers and does not build. This looks like a despicable attempt to free murderers and tarnish the settlement enterprise.”
“The release of terrorists in exchange for the dubious right of [Hatenua party chairwoman] Tzipi Livni to meet with [chief PA negotiator Saeb] Erekat is very serious. With all due respect, stopping the release of murderers is even more important than justifying the presence of Livni in the government,” the statement went on.
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon also slammed the planned prisoner release, saying it only strengthened terror.
“We’ll see the celebrations in Gaza, in Ramallah, in Nablus. This only strengthens those who seek to harm [us]” he told Army Radio Saturday.
“Any approval of settlement construction should not be linked to these releases,” he added.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, center, waves with the released Palestinian prisoners at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, Aug. 14 , 2013. (photo credit: AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Netanyahu has resisted the pressure from the right and plans to release the prisoners on schedule, the prime minister’s representative in the peace talks, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, assured Palestinian and American officials in recent days.
In July, Israel agreed to the release of 104 prisoners, many of whom were convicted of brutal murders, serving sentences for acts of terror committed before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Twenty-six prisoners were released in the first wave on August 13, just after talks started.
The deal was intended as a sign of good faith ahead of the renewed American-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Jerusalem Post
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