Israel has agreed to a long-standing Palestinian demand to release Palestinian prisoners in order to resume peace talks, but will not yield on other central issues, International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Saturday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry announced Friday that Israel and the Palestinians have laid the groundwork for renewed direct peace talks, some three years after the previous attempt at negotiations fell apart.
"There will be some release of prisoners," Steinitz told Israel Radio. "I don't want to give numbers but there will be heavyweight prisoners who have been in jail for dozens of years," he said. The release would be carried out in phases, he added.
Steinitz said that Israel did not acquiesce to freeze settlement construction or base the negotiations on the pre-1967 borders as part of the agreement to return to negotiations.
"There is no chance that we will agree to enter any negotiations that begins with defining territorial borders or concessions by Israel, nor a construction freeze."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has insisted that he would not agree to these Palestinian demands as a pre-condition to returning to the negotiating table, and Steinitz praised him for sticking to his principles despite pressure.
The Likud minister told Israel Radio that the Palestinians committed to enter talks that would continue at least nine months and the PA agreed to cease unilateral efforts to gain statehood at the UN during this period.
Steinitz said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had reluctantly agreed to resume negotiations. He posited that Abbas's behavior and his political position among Palestinians raise doubts about his ability to make the concessions necessary to completing a long-term peace agreement.
Senior PLO official Wasel Abu Youssef said of Kerry's initiative, "The announcement today did not mean the return to negotiations. It meant efforts would continue to secure the achievement of Palestinian demands ... Israel must recognize the 1967 borders."
Kerry said on Friday that the deal between Israel and the Palestinians was still being "formalized" and he would therefore not discuss it in detail, but that negotiators for both sides could begin talks in Washington "within the next week or so."
Abbas's own authority is also being questioned; while his US-backed administration holds sway in the West Bank, its rival governing body in Gaza, Hamas, denounced Abbas's credit in his representation of the Palestinian people, when it comes to peace talks.
"Abbas does not have the legitimacy to negotiate on fateful issues on behalf of the Palestinian people," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
http://www.jpost.com
20/7/13
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Israel to free Palestinian prisoners over Kerry talks...
ReplyDeleteIsrael says it will release a number of Palestinian prisoners as part of an agreement made with US Secretary of State John Kerry to resume peace talks.
Yuval Steinitz, minister responsible for international relations, said it would involve "heavyweight prisoners in jail for decades".
Mr Kerry announced on Friday that initial talks would be held in Washington "in the next week or so"......http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23388440
20/7/13
Αποφυλακίσεις Παλαιστινίων κρατουμένων από τις ισραηλινές αρχές....Οι αρχές θα αποφυλακίσουν Παλαιστίνιους κρατούμενους σε ένδειξη καλής θέλησης....
ReplyDeleteΤο Ισραήλ συμφώνησε στο αίτημα της Παλαιστινιακής Αρχής να απελευθερώσει Παλαιστίνους κρατουμένους ώστε να ξαναρχίσουν οι ειρηνευτικές διαπραγματεύσεις μεταξύ των δύο πλευρών, δήλωσε σήμερα [ο Ισραηλινός υπουργός Οικονομικών!!!] Γιουβάλ Στάινιτζ.
"Θα υπάρξει ένας περιορισμένος αριθμός αποφυλακίσεων. Δεν θέλω να ανακοινώσω αριθμούς, όμως θα είναι σημαντικοί κρατούμενοι που έχουν παραμείνει στη φυλακή για δεκαετίες», είπε ο υπουργός μιλώντας στο ισραηλινό ραδιόφωνο.
Την Παρασκευή ο υπουργός Εξωτερικών των ΗΠΑ Τζον Κέρι, μετά από αλλεπάλληλες διαβουλεύσεις που είχε με αξιωματούχους και των δύο πλευρών είπε ότι έχουν τεθεί οι βάσεις για την επανάληψη των ειρηνευτικών διαπραγματεύσεων, μετά από σχεδόν τρία χρόνια διακοπής, αλλά προειδοποίησε ότι η συμφωνία δεν είναι οριστική και ότι θα πρέπει ακόμη να καταβληθούν πολλές προσπάθειες.
Πηγή: AΠE-MΠΕ
http://www.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_kathremote_1_20/07/2013_510430
20/7/13
Israel to free Palestinian prisoners for peace talks: Minister...
DeleteIsrael has agreed to a long-standing Palestinian demand to release Palestinian prisoners in order to resume peace talks, but will not yield on other central issues, [Finance Minister!!!!] Yuval Steinitz said on July 20.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on July 19 that Israel and the Palestinians had laid the groundwork to resume peace talks after an almost three-year stalemate, but he warned that the deal was not final and required more diplomacy. ....http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/israel-to-free-palestinian-prisoners-for-peace-talks-minister.aspx?pageID=238&nid=51084
20/7/13
Israel anuncia una liberación de presos palestinos como gesto de buena voluntad...
ReplyDelete1. El número será limitado pero incluirá prisioneros "de gran peso", según el ministro de Exteriores
2. La excarcelación de 350 reclusos es una de las principales exigencias de la Autoridad Palestina
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El Gobierno de Israel ha cedido ante una de las más importantes exigencias de la Autoridad Palestina y, en el marco de las negociaciones de paz que se van a reanudar la semana que viene en Washington, liberará a una cantidad aún indeterminada de presos palestinos, según ha revelado este sábado el ministro israelí de Asuntos Estratégicos, Yuval Steinitz. Entre otras condiciones, los negociadores palestinos quieren que Israel excarcele a 350 presos, buena parte de los cuales se hallan en cárceles israelíes desde antes de los acuerdos de Oslo de 1993, los que sentaron las bases para posteriores negociaciones......http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/07/20/actualidad/1374311605_629982.html
20/7/13
Lapid: Israel not looking for 'happy marriage' with Palestinians, but rather a 'fair divorce' ...
ReplyDeleteFinance Minister Yair Lapid reacted to the resumption of peace talks with "cautious optimism" Saturday, saying that Israel was not looking for a "happy marriage" with the Palestinians but rather a "fair divorce."
Lapid stated on his Facebook page that the renewed peace talks were evidence of Yesh Atid coming through on a campaign promise, and he vowed that the party would act as the "central, moderate and balanced" voice in the government on the issue of the peace process.
He said that the left-wing should be reminded that "we must manage these negotiations as negotiations are managed in the Middle East - toughly, suspiciously and with an eye on always putting a high price, with no compromises, on Israel's essential assets."
In address to the right-wing, Lapid wrote: "We must separate from the Palestinians, because a bi-national state would spell the end of Zionism. My father came here after the Holocaust because he wanted to live in a Jewish state, not in a state of all its citizens. We need to approach this process with courage - on the basis of a two-state solution - because we must not give in to despair, to throwing our hands up, to all those who tell us 'nothing can be done.' There is something that can be done. There always is."
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Lapid-Israel-not-looking-for-happy-marriage-with-Palestinians-but-rather-a-fair-divorce-320435
20/7/13
Abbas threatens ‘all options open’ if US-led diplomatic bid fails...
DeleteAmid ongoing confusion about terms for new talks, PA president hails UN’s November upgrade of ‘Palestine’ as greatest achievement in years.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned in comments published Monday that “all options are open” if there is no substantive progress in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
The comments, Abbas’s first since US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday that peace talks would resume after a hiatus of almost three years, may be an attempt to exert pressure on the US and Israel to meet Palestinian demands on the terms of formal negotiations.....http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-threatens-all-options-open-if-peace-talks-fail/
22/7/13
Former settler chief Dayan: Freeing Palestinian prisoners wrong morally and politically...
ReplyDeleteThe announcement that Israel has agreed to release Palestinian prisoners as a gesture for the resumption of peace talks is a terrible mistake, both morally and politically, former leader of the settler umbrella organization Dani Dayan said Saturday.
Dayan, who stepped down after five years as head of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip in January, told Israel Radio that it now must be determined "what else Israel agreed to give up to please Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas].
Dayan called on Likud and Bayit Yehudi MKs to demand that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu disclose the details of the concessions he made in order to restart negotiations.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Former-settler-chief-Dayan-Freeing-Palestinian-prisoners-wrong-morally-and-politically-320447
20/7/13
Netanyahu: Palestinians must make concessions at ‘tough talks’....
ReplyDeletePalestinians must make concessions to Israel’s national interests for the future Middle East peace talks to bring fruit, says the Israeli prime minister. The negotiations promise to be hard, with a wave of criticism already coming from both sides.
Benjamin Netanyahu said his two principal goals in the negotiations would be maintaining a Jewish majority in Israel and avoiding creation of an Iran-backed “terrorist state” on its borders.
"Our negotiating partners will have to make concessions that enable us to preserve out security and crucial national interests," he explained to his cabinet at a Sunday morning meeting.
Netanyahu added that if any agreement is reached with the Palestinians, it will have to be ratified by Israel in a national referendum.
"I don't think that decisions like these are possible to make with one coalition or another, but have to be brought to the nation for its decision," he explained in an apparent effort to neutralize opposition.
Some partners of Netanyahu’s Likud party in the ruling coalition voiced their skepticism over the practical results of the negotiations.
“It's important to negotiate, and even more important for negotiations to be predicated on realism and not illusions,” Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beiteinu party wrote on Facebook. “There is no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at least not in the coming years, and what's possible and important to do is conflict-management.”
Additional doubt was expressed by the Arab League, which stated it is “forming a political support network” for Palestine after it declared willingness to participate.
“Many in the Israeli government do not want an Arab peace initiative,” said the League’s assistant secretary general, Mohammed Sabih, commenting that the process could become “negotiations for the sake of negotiations, going round in a vicious circle.”
Israel said on Saturday that it plans to release some Palestinian prisoners ahead of the negotiations, which are expected to commence in the United States next week. The resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks was announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday. ......http://rt.com/news/netanyahu-peace-talks-palestinians-380/
21/7/13
Netanyahu banishes Steinitz from cabinet meeting...Yair Lapid demands that his predecessor in the Finance Ministry leave the room...
ReplyDeleteAn ongoing spat between Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz flared up during a recent cabinet meeting and ended with the latter being sent from the room by the prime minister.
The tiff, reported by Channel 2 on Tuesday, happened when the Security Cabinet met on Saturday night to discuss cuts to the defense budget. Steinitz, a member of the Likud party, was finance minister in the previous government and was invited to the meeting to give his opinion.
However, the meeting also dealt with the rapidly developing issue of restarting peace talks with the Palestinians. When the issue of peace talks came up, Lapid pointed out that Steinitz was not a regular member of the Security Cabinet and should therefore leave the room, which Steinitz refused to do.
An irate Lapid then suggested, mockingly, that if non-members were allowed to attend the meeting, they should invite Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri, a member of Lapid’s own Yesh Atid party who is also a former head of the Shin Bet security service.
“He has a stronger national security background than any of us,” Lapid said, and then added, in a direct jab at his predecessor, “In fact, he knows more about the economy than Steinitz.”
When Steinitz persisted in his refusal to exit, Lapid appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to settle the spat.
“Mister prime minister, an agreement is an agreement, and regulations are regulations,” Lapid said.
Netanyahu then asked Steinitiz to leave.
“Yuval, please go out and in an hour I’ll call you back for the second meeting,” Netanyahu reportedly said......http://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-banishes-steinitz-from-cabinet-meeting/
24/7/13
Steinitz: Israel willing to make 'serious territorial concessions' for peace ....
ReplyDelete“We are prepared to make considerable concessions and it’s not going to be easy,” International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz said, The British Telegraph reported on Thursday.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Steinitz stated: "Both sides will have to make very significant concessions and very difficult concessions. We will probably have to make very serious territorial concessions."
"And the Palestinians will have to make also both territorial concessions - because there will be settlement blocks - but more important still they will have to recognise the very existence of the Jewish people and the Jewish state," the international relations minister added.
Steinitz told the Telegraph Israel is "ready" for the two state solution, but vowed Israel would hold a referendum before ending the conflict.
"I can tell you, I am confident that most Israelis will support it," Steinitz told the Telegraph.
He added that a "demilitarized" Palestinian state was the “only possible solution” to the conflict.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Steinitz-Israel-willing-to-make-serious-territorial-concessions-for-peace-321137
26/7/13
Israel to vote on freeing Palestinian prisoners...
ReplyDeleteGAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: In April 1993, Omar Masoud and three accomplices broke into a European aid office in Gaza City, grabbed a young Israeli lawyer working there and stabbed him to death.
Israel arrested Masoud a month later and sentenced him to life, meaning he was doomed to die in prison one day for killing the lawyer in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction.
Now Masoud, along with dozens of other long-term Palestinian prisoners, is up for release as part of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's attempt to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks after five years of diplomatic paralysis.
Israel's Cabinet is being asked to approve a prisoner release in principle on Sunday, as part of a Kerry-brokered deal to get the two sides back to the table.....http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Israel-to-vote-on-freeing-Palestinian-prisoners/articleshow/21406827.cms
27/7/13
Netanyahu set to free all pre-Oslo prisoners, says ‘it’s for the good of the country’...
ReplyDeleteIn public letter, Netanyahu writes that prime ministers are sometimes forced to make difficult and unpopular calls.
Amid reports that Israel has reluctantly agreed to release all 100-plus Palestinian prisoners held since before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night issued an open letter to the public, bracing Israelis for an extremely “difficult decision” that he was taking in defiance of public opinion but “for the good of the country.”
Netanyahu reportedly agreed to release all 104 pre-Oslo prisoners, including 20 or more Israeli Arab citizens, because the Palestinians made clear to US Secretary of State John Kerry that otherwise they would not come to the scheduled resumption of peace talks in Washington on Tuesday....http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-set-to-free-all-pre-oslo-prisoners-says-its-for-the-good-of-the-country/
27/7/13
Israeli cabinet to weigh prisoner release before Palestinian talks...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet will consider releasing more than 100 Arab prisoners held by Israel in order to boost prospects for talks expected with the Palestinians in Washington next week, Israeli officials said on Saturday.
Israel's agreement to free the inmates, held since before a 1993 interim accord with the Palestinians, is seen as critical to U.S. hopes of convening Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to resume peace talks that have been stalled since 2010.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded that Israel free the prisoners, all held for more than 20 years, as a condition for resuming negotiations.
Seeking to assuage public qualms about freeing prisoners many of whom were convicted of killing Israelis, Netanyahu issued a statement on Saturday urging the support of Israelis for what he called a "very painful decision".
"Prime ministers must from time to time to make decisions that go against public opinion, when it is important for the country to do so," Netanyahu said.....http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/27/us-palestinians-israel-idUSBRE96Q0AL20130727?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
27/7/13
Livni: Some Palestinian prisoners to be freed in next two weeks...
ReplyDeleteJustice minister says release will take place by next round of negotiations to be held in Israel in second week of August.
The next round of talks between Israel and the Palestinians will be held in Israel in the second week of August and some Palestinian prisoners may be freed by then, said chief negotiator and Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua).
Israel Radio reported Saturday morning that the talks are due to recommence on August 14.
Livni told Channel 10 Friday night that the the sides had agreed on alternating venues for talks.
“We and the Palestinians both determined that the first meetings would be held once in Israel and once in the Palestinian Authority … we want to do it directly (and close to home). The next meeting will be in the second week of August in Israel,” she said.
“The release [of the first group of Palestinian prisoners] will take place between now and the second week of August,” she added.....http://www.timesofisrael.com/livni-next-round-of-talks-with-palestinians-to-be-held-in-israel/
3/8/13
Abbas: Peace talks, Palestinian prisoner release to start 'very soon'....
ReplyDeletePalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that peace talks with Israel will start "very soon," and reiterated past statements that east Jerusalem would be the capital of the future Palestinian state, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.
Abbas laid roses on the grave of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday to mark the start of Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan.
He expressed hope that the next Eid al-Fitr feast would be celebrated "under an independent and sovereign Palestinian state" and that Palestinian prisoners who have been imprisoned in Israel before the Oslo Accords would be released "very soon."
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Abbas-Peace-talks-Palestinian-prisoner-release-to-start-very-soon-322426
8/8/13
Abbas says Palestinian prisoners to be released soon...
DeleteRAMALLAH/GAZA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said that Palestinian prisoners, who were detained and sentenced before the signing of Oslo peace agreement in 1993, will be gradually released soon from Israeli prisons.
Abbas was speaking to reporters after putting a wreath of flowers on the tomb of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah on the occasion of Eidul Fitr, the feast of the Muslims all over the world observe at the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
"By releasing those prisoners, their tragedy, which lasted for a long time, will end. We exerted a tremendous effort in order to achieve this goal," Abbas said, adding "the peace negotiations with Israel will be soon resumed and we are sticking to our principles, mainly Jerusalem, the capital of our state."
The Palestinians celebrate the Eidul Fitr holiday amid an internal division between the Gaza Strip that is ruled by Hamas movement since June 2007 and the West Bank ruled by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), as well as amid unstable political and economical situation.
On July 28, the Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to resume the peace talks with Palestinians and approved the gradual release of 104 Palestinian prisoners, who were detained and sentenced before Israel signed Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, the chief Israeli negotiator, and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat held their first meeting in Washington on July 29, and agreed on the outlines of resuming the direct peace talks halted in October 2010.....http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/08/c_132614327.htm
8/8/13
Israeli-Palestinian talks August 14 in Jerusalem: U.S....
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON: Palestinian and Israeli negotiators will resume talks on ending their long-standing conflict on August 14 in Jerusalem, the US State Department said Thursday.
The talks restarted last month in Washington under US mediation, and both sides agreed to try to resolve their differences within nine months.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that US mediator Martin Indyk would attend the next round of talks, which will be followed by a meeting in Jericho.
She added that US Secretary of State John Kerry, who hosted July's resumption of the talks "does not expect to make any announcement in the aftermath of this round of talks."
After three years of stalemate in the peace process and six decades of hot and cold conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, last month's meeting was hailed as a breakthrough.
Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat held two days of face-to-face dialogue in the US capital and promised to quickly resume talks in their divided region.
The rivals and their US mentor hope to reach an agreement on recognizing two states living side-by-side in peace, across a border roughly based on that of 1967, but many thorny issues remain.
The final status of the city of Jerusalem and of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory are expected to be sticking points, along with Palestinian demands that refugees be allowed to return to land now in Israel.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Aug-08/226785-israeli-palestinian-talks-august-14-in-jerusalem-us.ashx#ixzz2bPFg2rar
8/8/13
Israelis, Palestinians convene over prisoner swap ...
ReplyDeleteA ministerial committee convened on Sunday night to decide who will be the 26 Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli jails at the start of peace talks on Wednesday in Jerusalem.
The committee meeting began at 9.00 p.m., and is scheduled to finish at 12.00 a.m.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Israelis-Palestinians-convene-over-prisoner-swap-322751
11/8/13
Israel lists names of 26 Palestinians to be freed....
ReplyDeleteJERUSALEM: Israel on Monday published a list of 26 Palestinian prisoners set to go free within days, some after spending more than two decades behind bars, in the first stage of a deal that led to a resumption of US-backed peace talks last month.
The decision was made late Sunday by a panel of three cabinet ministers headed by defense minister Moshe Yaalon and security and legal personnel.
Families of Israelis victimized by the inmates' attacks have 48 hours to appeal their planned release to the high court. Based on past decisions, the court was unlikely to intervene......http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Israel-lists-names-of-26-Palestinians-to-be-freed/articleshow/21773911.cms
12/8/13
Israel to begin release of Palestinian prisoner at 9 p.m. ...
ReplyDeleteIsrael was slated to begin the release of 26 Palestinian security prisoners from jail at 9 p.m. on Tuesday as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority for resuming direct peace talks, Channel 10 reported.
The prisoners were expected to cross two checkpoints before arriving in Gaza and the West Bank a little after midnight.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Israel-to-begin-release-of-Palestinian-prisoner-at-9-pm-322920
13/8/13