WarSclerotic

Abbas Fled Talks the First Chance He Got, Commentary Magazine, Jonathan S. Tobin, April 1, 2014

(An autopsy may be premature. However, if the “peace process” has finally died or when it does, will the “international community” notice or care who killed it or why? Or will the blame Israel first meme continue?– DM)

Though, as it is now clear, he [Abbas] did little in the talks other than to continually say no to any measures that would indicate the Palestinians were finally willing to end the conflict with Israel, he was continually praised and petted by both Kerry and President Obama for his commitment to peace. 

Though nothing is permanent in the Middle East peace process, for the moment it appears that the Palestinians have finally found a way to scuttle the talks sponsored by Secretary of State John Kerry. Though Kerry had brokered an unlikely last-minute compromise that would have ensured the release of another batch of terrorist murderers that the Palestinian Authority had demanded, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas wasn’t buying it. Today, he signed papers indicating the PA’s request to join 15 international agencies, a clear violation of their Oslo obligations and commitments made to the United States. This was a signal that Abbas wouldn’t keep negotiating in spite of Kerry’s efforts to give them what they wanted. As a result, Kerry has canceled his planned trip back to the region, leaving, at least for the moment, the impression that the talks are at an end.

If the Palestinians continue to refuse to keep talking, it will mean that the deal Kerry had cooked up to free convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in exchange for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s agreement to release one more batch of terrorists including Israeli citizens and then another larger group of prisoners not convicted of violent crimes, will have been for nothing. That deal would have been a poor bargain for Israel in that it would have meant making real concessions — releasing Israeli Arabs convicted of terrorist murders as well as a promise of a limited freeze on building in the West Bank — in exchange for a man who might well be free on parole in 2015 anyway. The irony of having someone like Pollard who, though his crime was grave and did real damage to the U.S.-Israel relationship, acted in what he thought was Israel’s interest, being traded for people with Jewish blood on their hands, was so great that reportedly even the spy opposed it.

But the main conclusion to draw from these events isn’t about the Israeli desire to see Pollard freed after 28 years in prison but about Abbas’ desire to evade the peace process. What has happened isn’t so much a negotiation that went wrong, as it is the PA leader seizing the first opportunity that came his way to flee peace negotiations that he never wanted to join in the first place.

It should be remembered that getting Abbas to rejoin peace talks after boycotting them for most of the last five years was no easy task. Rather than talk without preconditions, the Palestinians had to be bribed with the release of four batches of terrorist killers. Though, as it is now clear, he did little in the talks other than to continually say no to any measures that would indicate the Palestinians were finally willing to end the conflict with Israel, he was continually praised and petted by both Kerry and President Obama for his commitment to peace. While the two continued to berate Israel as the obstacle to peace, it was always Abbas who was proving those who said last year that the Palestinians weren’t ready for peace right He refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders were drawn even in exchange for statehood and independence. Nor would he budge on the “right of return” for the 1948 refugees and their descendants. Even when Netanyahu unhappily agreed to Kerry’s framework for future talks that was rooted in the 1967 borders, Abbas still said no.

So it should come as no surprise to anyone that once the initial period of talks was about to expire, Abbas had no interest in continuing the negotiations even on terms that tilted the diplomatic playing field in his direction.

Why?

The answer is the same one that was apparent to just about everyone except Kerry last year before the process recommenced. With the Palestinians divided between Abbas’ fief in the West Bank and the Hamas-run independent Palestinian state in all but name in Gaza, Abbas had no room to maneuver to make peace even if he were truly willing to do so. Negotiating an agreement, even one that would give the Palestinians pretty much everything they want in terms of statehood in the West Bank and a share of Jerusalem, isn’t in his interest because signing such an agreement is far more dangerous than being blamed for scuttling the peace talks. The safer thing for Abbas is to seize any pretext to flee the talks and claim he’s seeking Palestinian independence via the UN, a futile gesture that will do nothing for his people.

While Abbas and his apologists claim he has done Kerry and Israel a big favor by sitting at the table with them the last several months and gotten nothing for it, the Palestinians have the most to gain from the process the secretary has promoted. Without it, there is no path to independence or economic stability for them. But since abandoning the talks allows Abbas to avoid having to sell a deal that ends the conflict to a Palestinian people that has been taught to view their national identity as inseparable from the struggle against Zionism, he prefers it to negotiations.

Were Abbas truly interested in peace, he could sit back and wait for Kerry to keep spinning deals that traded tangible Israeli concessions for continued talks. Instead, he has done what he did in 2008 when he fled the table to avoid having to say no to Ehud Olmert’s peace offer. While this isn’t the last chapter of Kerry’s efforts, those who are quick to blame Israel for everything should take note of Abbas’ behavior and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Fighting Rages Near Syria’s Chemical-Arms Transit Port – Global Security Newswire.

A Syrian opposition fighter checks a rocket launcher amid fighting last week in the country’s disputed Latakia province. The Syrian government reported progress in efforts to retake territory near a seaport hosting the removal of its chemical weapons. (Amr Radwan al-Homsi/AFP/Getty Images)

Syria’s regime is fighting to retake land near a critical seaport hosting the removal of chemical weapons from the divided country, the Associated Press reports.

Syrian state media said government loyalists seized Observatory 45, an elevated point overlooking the northern reaches of Syria’s Latakia province, AP said on Monday. However, the regime’s claims of progress in the area were disputed by some nearby observers. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-rebel organization operating out of the United Kingdom, also said militants had beaten back government forces, the Daily Star reported.

President Bashar Assad’s government is shipping hundreds of tons of chemical-arms materials out of the provincial capital to the south under a plan to eliminate all of the warfare substances by June. The regime agreed to relinquish its chemical arsenal last year, amid threats of a foreign military response to a nerve-gas attack on rebel territory in August.

Several jurisdictions and a checkpoint along the Turkish-Syrian border last month fell under the control of militant rebels, including members of the al-Nusra Front, an organization tied to al-Qaida. The March rebel push gave the opposition its first access to the Mediterranean Sea, where cargo vessels under armed escort are transporting Assad’s chemical weapons to international destruction points.

Regime forces employed ground-launched munitions and air-dropped bombs as they battled for northern sections of the province, which the British-based watchdog group said were seeing the heaviest fighting.

Meanwhile, a top Assad spokesman asserted that Turkey had deployed its own forces into Latakia, the government-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported on Monday.

Dempsey: Israel believes U.S. will strike Iran if necessary | Army Times | armytimes.com.

Israel and the United States are now in broad agreement about the threat that Iran poses to the region and how to deal with it, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. (Jim Watson / AFP)

Abbas signs Palestine request to join 15 UN bodies, Times of Israel, Yifa Yaakov, April 1, 2014

(Might this diminish the PA leverage against Israel in the “peace process” negotiations?” — DM)

Officials on both sides say move doesn’t end talks; PA sources: It’s a response to Israeli refusal to release prisoners.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (R) signs a request to join 15 United Nations agencies at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 (photo credit: AFP/Abbas Monami)

In an apparent breach of understandings with the US and Israel, and with a proposed agreement to extend peace talks awaiting a Palestinian response, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday evening signed an official appeal to join 15 UN bodies.

At a PLO meeting in Ramallah, Abbas president formally requested membership in the international organizations for the “State of Palestine.”

“The Palestinian leadership has unanimously approved a decision to seek membership of 15 UN agencies and international treaties, beginning with the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Abbas said on television after signing the demand.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Derek Stoffel tweeted Tuesday evening that the Palestinian Authority had made the move in response to Israel’s unwillingness to fulfill an obligation to release a fourth round of Palestinian prisoners, some of them Arab Israelis.

Stoffel quoted sources in Abbas’s office as saying the peace process would continue regardless of Tuesday’s move. Officials in Jerusalem were also quoted by Channel 2 news as saying that the move didn’t necessarily signal an end to the talks.

After the announcement was made, a meeting scheduled for Wednesday between Abbas and US Secretary of State John Kerry was canceled, Palestinian sources said.

“We salute the American efforts. But Israel is procrastinating,” Abbas reportedly said before signing a series of documents to apply to the UN bodies.

The Palestinian leadership was convened on Tuesday evening to discuss a tripartite deal between the US, Israel and the PA, which would see Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard freed from a US prison, reportedly in exchange for a partial settlement construction freeze and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

The identity of the prisoners to be released would be decided partly by Israel and partly by the Palestinian Authority.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with senior Likud party members on Tuesday to elaborate on the details of the plan and enlist their support.

An official close to the negotiations said earlier Tuesday that Kerry was close to a deal that would rescue the faltering Mideast peace talks. The deal would not include a freeze on construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank as the Palestinians have demanded but would envisage Israel committing to show “great restraint” and not issue new housing tenders.

The Palestinians gave the emerging proposal a cool reception, saying it fell far short of their demands for a complete halt to settlement construction and the freeing of 1,000 prisoners of their choosing.

Israel cabinet set to seal deal for Pollard’s release against hundreds of Palestinians. Kerry returns.

Jonathan Pollard – a high card in US-Palestinian-Israeli talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry plans to return to Israel Wednesday, April 2. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is meanwhile calling a special Israeli cabinet session to approve a new US proposal for unblocking talks with the Palestinians which puts Jonathan Pollard’s immediate release on the table. Kerry is expected to arrive with President Barack Obama’s consent in his pocket. The deal requires Israel to free 420 jailed Palestinian terrorists, including Israeli Arabs, and promise a partial freeze on settlement construction in the course of extended negotiations, the Palestinian price for extending the talks for another nine months.. This concession will be defined as “construction restraint” to overcome the strong objections of several ministers. The US Secretary plans to stop over this time in Ramallah as well as Jerusalem to tie up the last ends of the deal and reactivate the stalled negotiations.

debkafile reported earlier Tuesday: US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Brussels Tuesday morning, April 1, after two rounds of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and missing out on a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. US officials reported that Kerry is now aiming for a major breakthrough in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by holding out to Israel the ultimate prize of Jonathan Pollard’s early release.

It was not clear what he had achieved before he left.
When he landed in Israel Monday night, Kerry brought Israel the fresh Palestinian demand for a tenfold increase in the number of Palestinian security prisoners listed for the fourth round of releases – 420 instead of the original 30 – to include also Israeli Arabs, which a large number of ministers oppose.

Israel was also required to accept a freeze on settlement construction on the West Bank as well as Jerusalem.
These concessions were the Palestinians’ price for accepting the extension of talks up until the end of this year.

Kerry agreed to put the squeeze on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yet again. He even dangled the ultimate inducement of the possible release (no promises) of Jonathan Pollard, who has served 30 years of a life sentence in a US jail for spying for Israel.

Netanyahu has been fighting for Pollard’s freedom for more than 16 years, hoping that repeated US-initiated peace negotiations with the Palestinians would provide an opening. He came close to success in 1998 when President Bill Clinton promised to release him, but then recanted in the face of furious CIA objections.

Netanyahu explained that this US concession would provide his only hope of saving his government coalition and standing up to popular resentment for surrendering to Palestinian extortion beyond accepted bounds.

Administrations sources in Washington confirmed that the Pollard case would be open to discussion on certain conditions – i.e. further and bigger concessions to the Palestinians. The convicted spy, now 59, they said, would be eligible for a reprieve in November 2015. This had somewhat tempered the US intelligence agency’s resistance to his early release.
Appreciating the high value of the Pollard card, the US Secretary tried using it as a lever to extract a really major Israel concession, beyond even the latest Palestinians demands. He pushed Netanyahu hard for a far-reaching step capable of generating a dramatic breakthrough for the US peace effort he is leading.
He turned to Netanyahu because Abbas is frozen immovably in demand mode.
So instead of shuttling back and forth between Jerusalem and Ramallah, Kerry spent most of Monday night and again Tuesday morning leaning heavily on Netanyahu for an ultimate concession for the ultimate prize of a freed Pollard.

He faced two major obstacles: If he caved in to the US Secretary’s wishes, Netanyahu knew he couldn’t prevent the fall of his government – even if Pollard was thrown into the mix (which is still a big if). This was one cabinet crisis he could not be sure of weathering even after surviving into his third term as head of a coalition government.

The other stumbling block was that the Palestinians, fully conscious of Kerry’s objective and his pressure on Netanyahu, saw their chance to continually up their stipulations for more Israeli concessions as the price for keeping the talks afloat.

Those obstacles were still in force when the US Secretary flew out to Brussels Tuesday morning after a second round of talks with Netanyahu. What he managed to do was to shift the focus of US-Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to new terrain – American. President Barack Obama will be asked to consider making a contribution to the peace track on whose success his secretary of state has gambled heavily, by signing the papers for Jonathan Pollard’s release and then preparing it for consumption in America. Netanyahu will also be asked for some fast explaining about the price Israel is paying for him in Palestinian currency.
Pollard now has his first real chance of freedom.

But this is far from glad tidings for Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. Kerry’s peace effort has demonstrated the truism established by all its forerunners that it is only kept alive by successful Palestinian blackmail. In all former cases, this formula has brought peace diplomacy to demise.

US sees potential for Arab-Israeli security cooperation | The Times of Israel.

American military chief says Gulf states share common interests with Jerusalem, face common threats

 By Itamar Sharon April 1, 2014, 3:54 am

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey meets with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz in Jerusalem on March 31, 2014 (Photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

There is a growing potential for security cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors to tackle common regional challenges, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said Monday at a meeting with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.

According to the New York Times, Dempsey said such collaboration with nations “who may not have been willing to be partners in the past” may be increasingly possible due to joint interests and in the face of common threats to stability posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Syria’s civil war and Egypt’s ongoing chaotic state.

“What I mean is the Gulf states in particular, who heretofore may not have been as open-minded to the potential for cooperation with Israel, in any way,” he said.

Such cooperation could involve intelligence sharing and joint exercises, the New York Times reported, quoting anonymous US military officials.

In an indirect reference to recent tensions between Washington and Jerusalem over disparaging comments made by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon earlier this month towards the Obama administration, Dempsey noted that honest and open communication was an important component of US-Israeli relations,.

“The world is complicated enough without our speaking in parables to each other,” Haaretz quoted Dempsey as saying. “This is a time for great clarity and candor, and we can always count on our Israeli partners to do that.”

Gantz himself said “security relations between the IDF and the US military are sturdier than ever.”

Ya’alon met with Dempsey on Sunday, where the minister said the US is “truly our best friend.”

Dempsey also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two reportedly discussed the US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Last week Ya’alon accused the Obama administration of being weak on Iran, and said Israel would have to act alone to thwart Tehran’s nuclear drive.

The statements, delivered in a closed event at a university but promptly leaked, provoked a harsh response from the US, with US Secretary of State John Kerry calling Netanyahu in protest.
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Terrorist Envoy Symbolizes “New” Iran, Commentary Magazine, Tom Wilson, April 1, 2014

(Will there be any impact on Iran’s foreign relations? It seems quite unlikely.– DM)

His appointment to represent Iran at the UN is just another reminder that Rouhani’s administration has preserved more continuity with previous Iranian governments than it has brought change. . . . Such a move would not have been taken without consideration of its implications for relations with the U.S. and the West generally.

For those still trying to pedal the line that Iran is becoming a beacon of moderation in the region under President Rouhani, it must be deflating to learn that Iran is to appoint one of the 1979 U.S. embassy hostage takers as its new ambassador to the United Nations. Of course this is really just one more reason to question either the judgment or the integrity of those who continue to insist that Rouhani’s Iran is a state that the West can do business with. Naturally Monday morning’s press briefing at the State Department saw reporters eager to extract some official comment on the matter. But in the typically dismissive tone now symptomatic of State Department spokespeople, Marie Harf refused to give anything away, instead maintaining that this was a confidential visa issue; just like any other.

The man that Iran has made this supposedly unremarkable visa request for is Hamid Aboutalebi who was part of the militant group that took 52 American embassy staff hostage for 444 days in the wake of Iran’s Islamic revolution. The U.S. embassy in Tehran was seized and occupied in 1979 by the radical group Muslim Students Following the Imam’s Line, of which Aboutalebi was a member. Although Aboutalebi has at times attempted to play down his role in the hostage taking–claiming that he simply acted as a translator–his picture is still displayed on the page of the group’s website that celebrates the hostage taking. Besides, Aboutalebi began working as a diplomat for the Islamic regime shortly after the revolution. He and another of the hostage takers were sent on a diplomatic mission to Algeria at a time when the country was a locus for Third World terror groups, including the PLO.

Since then Hamid Aboutalebi has had a prestigious career. He has served as the Iranian ambassador to Australia, Belgium and Italy. And it should also be noted that Aboutalebi was part of Iran’s diplomatic service under previous President Ahmadinejad. And so really his appointment to represent Iran at the UN is just another reminder that Rouhani’s administration has preserved more continuity with previous Iranian governments than it has brought change. This should hardly be considered surprising. If Rouhani had genuinely represented such a radical break then Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini never would have allowed his name to go onto the ballot slip in the first place. Those prone to delusional levels of wishful thinking delight in parading Rouhani’s tweet wishing Jews new year’s greetings, but when it came to celebrating the revolution’s anniversary, Iranian state television broadcast simulated footage of Iran carpet bombing the Jewish state and attacking U.S. naval vessels. Rouhani’s regime is clearly lying to the West.

It should be obvious to most that Iran appointing a former hostage taker to be its ambassador to the UN is a hostile act. It certainly would be hard work to misconstrue it as a friendly one. Yet in the West politicians have been working hard to portray Rouhani’s regime as being if not friendly, then at least reasonable; open to discussion about its illegal nuclear program. The Europeans are desperate to lift sanctions so as to resume trade with Iran, the Obama administration is desperate to avoid the use of force in confronting the coming nuclear crisis.

No wonder then that the State Department was hardly enthusiastic about discussing this. When questioned on the matter Ms Harf first sought to divert the conversation to the riveting matter of administrating visas saying, “We don’t discuss individual visa cases. People are free to apply for one, and their visas are adjudicated under the normal procedures that we adjudicate people’s. And we don’t comment and we don’t make a prediction about the outcome of what that process might look like.” When that failed to satisfy reporters, Harf tried moving the conversation along by raising the matter of the latest round of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program saying; “Those are moving forward – difficult, but businesslike and on track for the third round.” No mention of whether or not Iran’s appointment of such a man as Aboutalebi to just about the highest diplomatic office is likely to harm cooperation with the West, including on such sensitive matters as the nuclear negotiations.

Clearly Aboutalebi’s appointment is significant. Such a move would not have been taken without consideration of its implications for relations with the U.S. and the West generally. Yet this move, if it goes ahead, will undoubtedly have consequences and is just another reminder that Rouhani’s Iran really isn’t so different from Ahmadinejad’s.

Kerry flies out of Israel with no breakthrough on new Palestinian demands. Pollard’s release on the table, DEBKAfile, April 1, 2014

(If the ploy works, will the shame lie more heavily on Israel or the United States?  Secretary Kerry should get his Nobel Peace Prize now and go away to bask in glory, before he causes more harm. — DM)

Appreciating the high value of the Pollard card, the US Secretary tried using it as a lever to extract a really major Israel concession, beyond even the latest Palestinians demands. He pushed Netanyahu hard for a far-reaching step capable of generating a dramatic breakthrough for the US peace effort he is leading.

He turned to Netanyahu because Abbas is frozen immovably in demand mode.

Jonathan Pollard – a high card in US-Palestinian-Israeli talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Brussels Tuesday morning, April 1, after two rounds of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and missing out on a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. US officials reported that Kerry is now aiming for a major breakthrough in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by holding out to Israel the ultimate prize of Jonathan Pollard’s early release.

It was not clear what he had achieved before he left.

When he landed in Israel Monday night, Kerry brought Israel the fresh Palestinian demand for a tenfold increase in the number of Palestinian security prisoners listed for the fourth round of releases – 420 instead of the original 30 – to include also Israeli Arabs, which a large number of ministers oppose.

Israel was also required to accept a freeze on settlement construction on the West Bank as well as Jerusalem.

These concessions were the Palestinians’ price for accepting the extension of talks up until the end of this year.

Kerry agreed to put the squeeze on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yet again. He even dangled the ultimate inducement of the possible release (no promises) of Jonathan Pollard, who has served 30 years of a life sentence in a US jail for spying for Israel.

Netanyahu has been fighting for Pollard’s freedom for more than 16 years, hoping that repeated US-initiated peace negotiations with the Palestinians would provide an opening. He came close to success in 1998 when President Bill Clinton promised to release him, but then recanted in the face of furious CIA objections.

Netanyahu explained that this US concession would provide his only hope of saving his government coalition and standing up to popular resentment for surrendering to Palestinian extortion beyond accepted bounds.

Administrations sources in Washington confirmed that the Pollard case would be open to discussion on certain conditions – i.e. further and bigger concessions to the Palestinians. The convicted spy, now 59, they said, would be eligible for a reprieve in November 2015. This had somewhat tempered the US intelligence agency’s resistance to his early release.

Appreciating the high value of the Pollard card, the US Secretary tried using it as a lever to extract a really major Israel concession, beyond even the latest Palestinians demands. He pushed Netanyahu hard for a far-reaching step capable of generating a dramatic breakthrough for the US peace effort he is leading.

He turned to Netanyahu because Abbas is frozen immovably in demand mode.

So instead of shuttling back and forth between Jerusalem and Ramallah, Kerry spent most of Monday night and again Tuesday morning leaning heavily on Netanyahu for an ultimate concession for the ultimate prize of a freed Pollard.

He faced two major obstacles: If he caved in to the US Secretary’s wishes, Netanyahu knew he couldn’t prevent the fall of his government – even if Pollard was thrown into the mix (which is still a big if). This was one cabinet crisis he could not be sure of weathering even after surviving into his third term as head of a coalition government.

The other stumbling block was that the Palestinians, fully conscious of Kerry’s objective and his pressure on Netanyahu, saw their chance to continually up their stipulations for more Israeli concessions as the price for keeping the talks afloat.

Those obstacles were still in force when the US Secretary flew out to Brussels Tuesday morning after a second round of talks with Netanyahu. What he managed to do was to shift the focus of US-Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to new terrain – American. President Barack Obama will be asked to consider making a contribution to the peace track on whose success his secretary of state has gambled heavily, by signing the papers for Jonathan Pollard’s release and then preparing it for consumption in America. Netanyahu will also be asked for some fast explaining about the price Israel is paying for him in Palestinian currency.

Pollard now has his first real chance of freedom.

But this is far from glad tidings for Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. Kerry’s peace effort has demonstrated the truism established by all its forerunners that it is only kept alive by successful Palestinian blackmail. In all former cases, this formula has brought peace diplomacy to demise.

Pollard doesn’t want to be freed for Palestinian terrorists, says Bayit Yehu… – Israel News, Ynetnews.

After weeks of speculation that convicted spy could be included as sweetner to Israel, Housing Minister Uri Ariel tells Army Radio that Pollard opposes such a ‘shameful deal’.

Associated Press

Jonathan Pollard does not want to be freed from a US jail in exchange for Palestinians prisoners, Housing Minister Uri Ariel said Tuesday.

Ariel told Army Radio that people close to Pollard have told him that the convicted spy opposes such a “shameful deal.” The minister, a member of the far-right Bayit Yehudi party told the radio that he, too, is against the release of murderers for Pollard.

The possibility of the US freeing Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1987, has been repeatedly raised in recent days, as the Americans scramble to salvage what is left of almost nine months of US-brokered peace negotiations.

A protest for Pollard release in Jerusalem (Photo: AP)

American sources close to the negotiations said Monday that Pollard’s release was “on the table” as a possible element in a peace deal, but in return, Israel would have to undertake significant concessions to the Palestinians.

Such concessions could include some kind of freeze on Israeli settlement construction, the release of Palestinian prisoners beyond those Israel has already agreed to, and a guarantee that Israel would stay at the negotiating table beyond the dealine at the end of April.

Some of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right partners in his governing coalition have come out against any wider release of Palestinian prisoners, but Pollard’s freedom could mute their opposition.

Israel’s rightist government is balking at the release of the final of four groups of 26 Palestinians involved in deadly terror attacks against Israelis, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has stated that he would not continue the talks without the promised prisoner release. US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday made his second unplanned visit to the region in as many weeks, to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Israel has long sought Pollard’s release, but its repeated requests have been consistenly rebuffed by Democratic and Republican presidents alike. The current administration said last week that freeing Pollard was not on the agenda. The spy is due for parole next year.

Pollard-for-prisoners deal said to be near completion | The Times of Israel.

( Pollard should have been freed a decade ago.  Now Obama uses him as a hostage against Israel.  Warms your heart, no? – JW )

Three-way agreement would see partial settlement freeze, hundreds of Palestinians released, but sides waiting for Ramallah to sign on

By Times of Israel staff and AFP April 1, 2014, 1:07 pm

A tripartite deal between the US, Israel and the Palestinians which would see Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard freed in exchange for a partial settlement construction freeze and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners was nearing completion on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.