Last Saturday, Israel was to have released a fourth and final group of Palestinian prisoners as part of its original nine-month-old negotiations agreement with the Palestinians. Israel did not release them. Instead, it tried to use the release as leverage to force the Palestinians to commit to negotiations beyond the original deadline of April 29th.
Israel's failure to release a final batch of Palestinian prisoners, scheduled for Saturday night, amounts to a violation of the terms of the original agreement reached between Israel and the Palestinians at the start of talks nine months ago, brokered by the United States, US officials have told their Israeli counterparts.
JPost
Following the breach, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he would now seek to strengthen Palestine's position internationally, while continuing to negotiate until the required end date: April 29th.
In response to this crisis, Secretary Kerry put a plan together meant to keep the negotiations going. Oddly on offer was the release of Jonathan Pollard, the American who was sentenced to life for spying for Israel. Israel has long sought his release. The Palestinians were offered the release of the prisoners which had already been agreed to as well as 400 others, many of them women and children. The plan also calls for another partial freeze of settlement building. It seems more a plan to keep Israel at the table, since Palestine has agreed to continue talking until the agreed upon deadline.
Then, on Tuesday, Israel announced 700 tenders beyond the green line. That evening, Abbas signed the applications to join international conventions and treaties, as he said he would if Israel were to renege on the agreement.
What does it mean?
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