When Palestinian leaders agreed to suspend their efforts to join various United Nations agencies last summer, the United States assured them that all 104 long-term Palestinian prisoners held by Israel would be released. This was not the first time that the United States had made such a promise. At the 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh summit, attended by US, Egyptian, Palestinian and Israeli leaders, agreement was reached that these particular prisoners would be released. Nothing happened, however, until last year, when US Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a quid pro quo. Palestinian prisoners would be released in return for Palestine suspending its bid to join UN agencies. Failure to release the prisoners would relieve the Palestinians of their commitment.
The Israelis keep trying to get something new for the same goods. In fact, Israeli attempts to sell the same goods more than once are at the center of a dispute that could blow up this fragile agreement. Israeli officials, including Tzipi Livni, justice minister and head of negotiations, now want the Palestinians to commit to the continuation of the peace talks after the April 29 deadline in return for Israel releasing the last tranche of prisoners. Palestinian officials have rejected this request and warn that they will restart their efforts to join some 63 international agencies if the Israelis carry out their threat not to release the prisoners by the end of March.
Although hesitation and similar threats have followed each of the previous three rounds of prisoner releases, many are concerned that the Israelis are more serious this time. One of the areas that seems to be causing difficulty for them is in part of their own making. When the agreement was reached last summer, Palestinians had expected that all 104 prisoners would be released at once. Although the Israeli cabinet voted on the total number of prisoners to be released, it broke their release into four stages, with each requiring its reconfirmation. Furthermore, the Israelis postponed the release of the prisoners who are Israeli citizens or residents until the last batch. The Israelis' latest plan is to release some of the remaining prisoners, but to hold off on freeing the Israeli citizens, whom they call “Israeli Arabs.”
Israel is particularly sensitive about the release of prisoners who are citizens because it considers them traitors. Nonetheless, in previous prisoner exchanges over the years, Israel has released Palestinian prisoners who are Israeli citizens.
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