Israeli chief takes heat for release

U.S.-brokered deal sees Palestinian prisoners freed today

JERUSALEM - Israel released more than two dozen Palestinian prisoners convicted in deadly attacks against Israelis early today as part of a U.S.-brokered package to restart Mideast peace talks.

After departing on buses from Israeli jails overnight, the prisoners received hero’s welcomes upon their return to the West Bank and Gaza, with officials and jubilant relatives lining up to greet them. At his headquarters in Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waited to meet the men in the middle of the night. Speaking before thousands, he pledged to continue pressing for the release of long-serving and ill prisoners.

“We will not sign a final peace deal with Israel before all the prisoners are released,” he said.

In Israel, though, the release was accompanied by great anger and frustration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing a public uproar from all directions over the move.

With Netanyahu expected to accompany the releases with plans to build hundreds of new homes in Jewish settlements, dovish supporters of peace talks said the expected construction would destroy any good will created by the prisoner release, while hard-line allies criticized Netanyahu for linking the Jewish settlement cause with the release of prisoners convicted in connection with killings, mostly of Israelis.

“Leadership is judged by the ability to implement decisions, difficult as they may be,” Netanyahu told members of his Likud Party. “We were not elected to make easy decisions.”

Under a formula drawn up by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel agreed last summer to release a total of 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in order to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.

In exchange, the Palestinians dropped their long-standing demand for Israel to halt construction of homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in 1967 that they claim for their future state. The Palestinians say they have received vague assurances that Israel would show restraint while the talks continue until an April target date for an agreement.

The latest prisoner release is the third of four planned stages. The release was carried out by Israel overnight to avoid the larger spectacle of having to witness the celebrations over the killers’ freedom.

All 26 of the men have been convicted in deadly attacks, and have spent between 19 and 28 years in prison. They included 18 men from the West Bank, three Gazans, and in a concession by Israel, five men from east Jerusalem.

Israel considers east Jerusalem to be part of its capital and previously has balked at allowing the Palestinians to negotiate on behalf of prisoners living in what it considers to be Israeli territory. Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem is not internationally recognized, and the vast majority of Arab residents in the area hold residency rights but are not Israeli citizens.

Israeli opponents of the prisoner release have staged days of protests against the releases. A group representing families of victims of Palestinian attacks appealed to the Supreme Court to block the release. It was rejected late Monday, allowing the releases to continue.

In an apparent attempt to blunt domestic criticism of such releases, Netanyahu is expected to approve plans to build 1,400 new homes in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the coming days.

The Palestinians say such construction undermines peace efforts, and have appealed to the U.S. to block the expected announcement. The U.S. and the European Union have harshly criticized settlement announcements during the current round of negotiations, with Kerry at one point questioning Israel’s commitment to peace.

Kerry is expected back in the region this week in another effort to breathe life into the negotiations.

He will present Israel and the Palestinians the broad outlines of what a final Mideast peace agreement could look like, the State Department said Monday.

State Department deputy spokesman Marie Harf said Kerry hoped to narrow gaps in the two parties’ positions, but it is not clear whether any agreement on a framework would be reached during the trip.

“It’s only a proposed framework at this point. … This framework would address all the core issues,” Harf said.

“Some people say this would be an interim agreement. No, that’s not the case. It would address the guidelines around all the core issues that are part of the final status negotiations.”

But Netanyahu indicated he would not back down on the settlement issue. “In these negotiations we are faced with our essential interests, including guaranteeing the settlements in the land of Israel,” he said.

Netanyahu’s decision to press forward with settlement construction at such a sensitive time has drawn criticism from all directions.

Amir Peretz, a Cabinet minister with the dovish “Movement” party, said the painful sight of watching convicted killers walk free could have been avoided had Netanyahu agreed to freeze settlement construction.

“I would have preferred to freeze settlement building rather than releasing [Palestinian] prisoners but at this point we must allow this stage to move forward, we must not do anything to prevent it,” he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Deb Riechmann, Mohammed Daraghmeh and Dalia Nammari of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 12/31/2013

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