Israel Releases First Prisoners as Peace Talks Resume

August 14, 2013

4 min read

Prisoner Release

Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemy whom the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee (Deuteronomy 28:48)

abbas terrorists
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (center) raises his hands and waves with released Palestinian prisoners, many of them terrorists with blood on their hands, as they arrive to the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah, early Wednesday morning. Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners as a part of a U.S.-brokered deal that led to a resumptions of Mideast negotiations. (Photo: Issam Rimawi/Flash90)

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected the petition by the families of terror victims to block the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners who were convicted of terrorism, ruling that it is not for the court to involve itself in what is a diplomatic rather than a legal process, according to The Times of Israel. By the late hours of Tuesday night, the first 26 prisoners were released.

The Government Press Office had released a list of the prisoners to be released, and the crimes they committed, further enraging the Israeli public. The Jerusalem Post expanded on the crimes of each member of the list. The list included:

Atiyeh Salem Musa, who, along with an accomplice, used an ax to murder a Jewish co-worker, 67-year-old Isaac Rotenberg, during Passover 1994. The murder took place while Rotenberg was hunched on his knees fixing a floor at his place of employment in Petah Tikva. He was struck on the back of his neck, dying two days later.

Mohamed Abdel Majid Sawalha, who was arrested for murder and attempted murder in December 1990, and his accomplice, Hosni Faregh Sawalha, who was charged with murder and for being an accessory to murder. The two, minors at the time, stabbed to death 24-year-old Baruch Yaacov Heisler, a passenger on a bus from Petah Tikva to Tel Aviv. They attempted to attack other passengers as well. A second accomplice was killed by a police officer.

Atef Izzat Sha’ath, who was arrested in March 1993 for being an accessory to murder after driving three terrorists to the crime scene and driving them away afterward. The victim, Simcha Levy, made a living in Gush Katif by providing transportation to local workers. The terrorists were dressed as female agricultural workers and rode in Levy’s vehicle, where they stabbed her to death and fled.

Also on the list was Ali Ibrahim al-Rai, who was arrested in April 1994 for the murder of Moris Eisenstatt. Al-Rai killed the 79-year-old by striking him in the head with an ax as Eisenstatt sat on a public bench in Kfar Saba.

The others released committed similar horrific atrocities.

The Jerusalem Post reported that PA President Mahmoud Abbas would head the celebration welcoming the prisoners home. “We won’t allow Israel to disrupt our plans to celebrate the release of our prisoners,” said a senior aide to Abbas. “We have issued invitations to the families of the prisoners to come to the [presidential compound] Mukata to welcome their sons.” The aide said that Abbas and top PA officials were determined to attend the reception for the prisoners “even if they are released after midnight.”

Wednesday, the Israel and the PA are set to resume talks in Israel, however details are scarce and optimism is even more scarce. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel is going into the talks, which will be held under complete media blackout and the time and location being kept a secret, with very low expectations and the PA threatening to walk away over Israel’s announcement of construction plans in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem last week.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon expressed deep skepticism when asked during a tour of the North whether he thought the talks would lead to a breakthrough. “We set ourselves the goal of nine months in which we will try to reach something with the Palestinians,” he said. “We’ve been trying for 20 years since Oslo, and for over 120 years of the conflict.The skepticism in the tone of my remarks is apparent, but we’ve decided to give it a chance.”

Israeli officials dismissed as “overstated” speculation that fears of Israel’s being delegitimized in the world is what motivated Netanyahu to return to the table. At a speech in June to the American Jewish Committee, Kerry warned that the “insidious campaign to delegitimize Israel will only gain steam” if the talks fail.

One government official said that Netanyahu believes that a Palestinian state is in Israel’s interest because of demographic reasons, in order to keep Israel a Jewish democracy, and to fend off attempts to delegitimize it. But, the official said, “he also believes that a Palestinian state that looks like Gaza does today – hostile, in the Iranian orbit, and one that fosters terrorism against Israel – is something that we cannot afford.”

On the Palestinian side, senior Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo warned that advancing settlement construction plans could lead to the breakdown of the talks.“Settlement expansion goes against the US administration’s pledges and threatens to cause the negotiations’ collapse,” he told AFP.

According to the JPost, however, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that Israel’s announcement of plans for the new units was “to some degree expected.”

He urged Israelis and Palestinians to move forward with peace talks.

“What this underscores is the importance of getting to the table, getting to the table quickly,” said Kerry during a trip to Colombia, calling on the Palestinians “not to react adversely” on the eve of the second round of negotiations.

”The United States of America views all of the settlements as illegitimate,” he added.

He said he spoke with both Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni about the matter, and characterized the conversation with Netanyahu as “frank and open.”

The members of Wednesday’s Israeli negotiating team are Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s personal envoy, Yitzhak Molcho. The PA will be represented by chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and senior negotiator Muhammad Shtayyeh. US special envoy Martin Indyk is expected to participate.

According to another report from the Jerusalem Post, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Thursday and Friday to show his support for the restart of direct negotiations.

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