Netanyahu to U.S.: I'll free Fatah prisoners to boost Abbas
Other goodwill gestures aimed at jump-starting peace talks include easing West Bank travel restrictions.
By Barak Ravid Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu Mahmoud Abbas Barack Obama Israel newsPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to the release of hundreds of Fatah prisoners as part of efforts backed by the United States and Egypt to jump-start the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu expressed a willingness to release prisoners as a goodwill gesture in talks with the special U.S. Mideast envoy, George Mitchell. Under the plan, Israel would also embark on low-level negotiations with U.S. mediation.
Last Sunday, after meeting with Mitchell, Netanyahu told the cabinet that he heard new ideas from the American administration on the efforts to resume peace talks.
"I expressed my hope that these ideas will enable the resumption of the process if the Palestinians express a similar interest in favor of all those who aspire for reconciliation in our region," the prime minister said.
A senior source in Jerusalem said Thursday that Netanyahu's comment referred to a new proposal by Mitchell and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Negotiations would take place in the format of proximity talks, similar to the indirect negotiations that Israel held with Syria under prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Mitchell proposes that he travel between Jerusalem and Ramallah, relaying messages to the two sides on various core issues, including borders, Jerusalem, refugees and security. At a later stage the talks might be taken over by low-level officials on both sides to evaluate if negotiations can be continued at top levels.
The proposal also included Israeli goodwill gestures that would be carried out at the start of the proximity talks the United States would conduct. The main goodwill gesture is expected to be the release of hundreds of Fatah prisoners to the West Bank.
The senior source in Jerusalem said that these would largely be prisoners with only a little time left in their sentences. Other goodwill gestures involve easing travel in the West Bank.
Netanyahu accepted Mitchell's proposal, according to the Israeli source. However, Netanyahu emphasized that the Palestinians must also agree to the plan.
Mitchell presented his proposal to Abbas but the Palestinian leader has not yet said whether he agrees.
"Abbas said that he will think about it and went abroad without offering an answer," the senior source in Jerusalem said.
Mitchell is expected to return to the region in the coming weeks to receive a response from Abbas.
Abbas traveled to Cairo Friday for a meeting with Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian president is expected to pressure Abbas to respond positively to the American mediation proposal. Next week Abbas will visit Germany and Britain.
Meanwhile, Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog told Palestinian academics in Jerusalem Wednesday that the Palestinians are not correctly reading the situation in Israel regarding the current coalition.
"You are not correctly reading the exceptional opportunity that exists at this time," Herzog said.
"I believe that the leaders of a center-right government will go to a historic settlement. Do not miss an opportunity again."
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I suspect not all Palestinian prisoners are terrorists with blood on their hands. If that's true, perhaps someone should speak up. Israel holds 11,000 Palestinians in prison, many with no charges. According to EU Parliament resolution of 4Sept08, among the 11,000 prisoners are hundreds of women and children, most arrested in the occupied West Bank. According to the Convention of Rights of the Child, a child is defined as under age of 18. Palestinian children are treated as adults at 16 and often kept in inappropriate conditions. Around 1,000 prisoners are held on administrative detention orders, without charge, trial or rights of defense, and detention orders are often prolonged for years. Human Rights reports state Palestinian prisoners are subject to abuses and torture. Even 48 elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are in prison. Mistreated women prisoners do not have access to adequate medical care. Do you think none of them could be released?
Lieberman's "no more gestures" approach is the right one. If Bibi is promising the release of prisoners before their sentences are complete, or - as in another report - transferring Area C to Area A (full Palestinian control), he'll deserve to be deemed Olmert Lite. Netanyahu was elected to defend Israel's rights and interests, not those of the Palestinians, and certainly not to suck up to George Mitchell.
I suspect not all Palestinian prisoners are terrorists with blood on their hands. If thats true, perhaps someone should speak up. Israel holds 11,000 Palestinians in prison, many with no charges. According to EU Parliament resolution of 4Sept08, among the 11,000 prisoners are hundreds of women and children, most arrested in the occupied West Bank. According to the Convention of Rights of the Child, a child is defined as under age of 18. Palestinian children are treated as adults at 16 and often kept in inappropriate conditions. Around 1,000 prisoners are held on administrative detention orders, without charge, trial or rights of defense, and detention orders are often prolonged for years. Human Rights reports state Palestinian prisoners are subject to abuses and torture. Even 48 elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are in prison. Mistreated women prisoners do not have access to adequate medical care. Do you think none of them could be released?
Netanyahu can easily afford to release some palestinian prisoners. He can get as many more of them as he wants whenever he likes.
First, see if he follows thru on anything. This may just be a press release. Second, see if any politicals are released, those with no charges and no trials. Third, see if any sentence longer than a week or two remaining is releases. Fourth, see if it just traffic offenders and shoplifters. Sixth, see if Abbas is boosted or humiliated. This could be like the Turkey deal, an apology followed by a leaked near-mortal insult.
It seems with the exception of the current Israeli government, everyone knows what is needed. A full freeze on the building of illegal Jewish settlements including settlement in East Jerusalem is what will jump start the process. Its pretty straight forward really. If Israel is interested in a peaceful end to the conflict then it will have to stop building more settlements and start vacating existing ones. Is it that difficult for the Israelis to understand logic?. Building settlements does not suggest Israel is interested in anything but land grab and continuing with its occupation. As for lifting restrictions on movement and releasing prisoners, well there shouldn't be any restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people as for the prisoners, most of those who are languishing in Israeli detention centers should not have been arrested in the first place. There are over 11000 People waiting to be freed.
As a Palestinian, I am open to peace, but the basis of peace is UN 242 and 338, and that is land for peace and withdrawal from the lands taken in 1967, and Palestinians want the settlements to end and East Jerusalem as the capitol and land to be aken for settlements has to be exchanged for land from the 1948 lands. Pardon me, for being skeptical, but Netanyahu's tree planting ceremony and building in East Jerusalem doesn't quite convince me. This time he hasn't said Palestinians have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, which is the business of Israelis, not our business, if Israel is a democracy. I think peace is possible, but Israel so far is not quite following 242 and 338. Maybe, an agreement can come from Netanyahu, but I do remember Netanyahu tried to scuttle Oslo. He was against the disengagement. I am not sure Israelis would even trust him.
that will boost you and abbass
If a firm agreement is reached soon, it will be only Israeli politicians who do it. If Netanyahu cannot be a leader, he must step down.
BIG MISTAKE! abbas is a dead duck.No ammount of Oxigen will revive this corps.To free hundreds of terrorists to boost an irrelevant entity,is a risk that Israel cannot afford and doesn't need...The problem is not abbas,the problem is iran and its surrogates,hamas and hizballah
65 years ago it was the jewish Kapos who helped tha nazi's herd the jews into the ovens in Auschwitz,and the modern Kapos of today the so called leaders of Israel will turn all of Israel into a one big auschwitz
If Bibi or anyone else thinks they can cede Judea without a civil war for an Arab handshake they are just plain crazy. Today the Arabs are naming streets for terrorist. There is no peace with Jewkillers.
Unless Marwan Barghouti is freed then this is just like the settlement "freeze". An empty gesture designed to give pro-israeli arguments on the international scene without doing anything concret or changing anything on the ground. 90% of those Fatah prisonners are just political prisoners who shouldn't have been imprisoned in the first place. Annonce that East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.
If terrorists will be released as "gestures", then they must be executed as soon as they are captured to prevent future release.
they resisted the occupation, they are prisoners of war and should be treated as such; if they are terrorists, they should not be released; if they are criminals, they should not be released. Netanyahus's offer to release these prisoners shows that their arrests should never have occurred, and that Israel's classification of Palestinians as terrorists is nothing more than more propaganda to continue the occupation.