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by Shiryn Ghermezian
Minister Naftali Bennett at New York's 92nd st Y. Photo: Joyce Culver.
Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday morning that a reported new Israeli release of Palestinian Arab convicts in exchange for continued peace talks will not materialize. Bennett is a senior partner in the government’s ruling coalition.
“Since last night when Shabbat ended I have received hundreds of inquiries about the alleged deal in which we plan to release 400 prisoners for continued negotiations,” he wrote on Facebook. “Let me be clear: This will not happen.”
Bennett’s comments were posted alongside a screenshot of a Times of Israel “exclusive” report that cited “Palestinian sources” allegedly disclosing details of the new proposal, which they claimed was backed by the United States. According to the report, Israel is willing to free 400 convicted Palestinian terrorists if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agrees to extend Israeli-PA peace talks past the current self-imposed mid-April deadline.
Separately, at the start of the peace talks Israel agreed to release 104 terrorists convicted of crimes before the 1993 Oslo Accords in four tranches as a goodwill gesture. So far the Jewish state has released 78 of the convicts and on Saturday missed the deadline to release the final tranche of Palestinian convicts.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that haggling over the fourth installment could go on for “a number of days.” In a meeting with ministers from his Likud party, he said that Israel would not free the prisoners “without a clear benefit for Israel in return.”
