by Shlomo Cesana, Yoni Hirsch, Daniel Siryoti, Yori Yalon and Israel Hayom Staff
After three years of stalemate, Kerry announces renewal of peace negotiations • Prime Minister Netanyahu: Resumption of talks is a vital strategic interest for Israel • 85 Palestinian prisoners, some with blood on their hands, to be released in stages.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center on Sunday.
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Photo credit: PMO  |
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a
previous round of talks
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Photo credit: GPO 
If peace talks with the Palestinians reach
fruition, the results of such talks will be brought to a national
referendum for ratification, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
Sunday.
Speaking at the weekly Cabinet session, which
was held this Sunday at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem
to mark 100 years since Begin's birth, Netanyahu told the ministers that
if an agreement is reached, he would put it to a national referendum
vote.
"I believe that this is crucial; I don't
believe that decisions such as these can be taken - if a deal is reached
– with one coalition or another, but rather this thing needs to be
brought to the nation to decide," Netanyahu said.
Israel is entering talks with honesty and
integrity, Netanyahu said, adding that he hoped negotiations would be
conducted responsibly and, at least at first, discretely.
Netanyahu went on to warn that negotiations
will not be easy, saying that the resumption of the peace process was an
essential interest of the State of Israel. He said further that Israel
would have to find the right balance between preventing a binational
state and preventing the establishment of an Iran-backed terror state.
Netanyahu's comments signal that after three
years of stalemate, peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are
set to be renewed in the imminent future. The goal of the negotiations
will be to reach a permanent agreement that brings an end to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At this stage, the terms of reference for
the talks remain opaque, as neither the Israelis nor Palestinians are
ready to divulge what formula they have agreed to.
On Friday night, U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry, who has visited the region six times over the past four months,
held a press conference in Amman before flying back to the U.S. At the
press conference, Kerry announced the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian
talks.
"I am pleased to announce that we have reached
an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status
negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kerry said
"This is a significant and welcome step forward."
Kerry praised Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for showing
"courageous leadership."
Kerry said that "if everything goes as
expected," Israeli-Palestinian negotiations would get underway in
Washington "within the next week or so." Israel will be represented at
the initial meeting by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Netanyahu's
special envoy Yitzhak Molcho. Saeb Erekat, the chief negotiator for the
Palestinian Authority, will represent the Palestinians.
According the official announcement, the
duration of the negotiations will be between nine months to a year. The
Palestinians will enter the negotiations without preconditions, such as
an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a declaration of Jerusalem as
the capital of two states or a settlement construction freeze.
However, two Abbas aides, speaking
anonymously, painted a different picture. They told The Times of London
that Abbas had received a written guarantee from Kerry that the basis
for the negotiations would be the 1967 borders and that Israel wouldn't
issue new tenders for settlement construction.
Israeli officials in Jerusalem denied making any such commitments.
The Palestinians pledged to not act against
Israel in international institutions for the next nine months. The Prime
Minister's Office said this was significant, as the Palestinians had
previously planned to seek statehood recognition at the U.N. in
September.
The main Israeli concession was its consent to
releasing 85 Palestinian prisoners, some with blood on their hands, who
have been jailed since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
The release will be conducted in stages as negotiations progress over
the course of the year. None of the terrorists will be released before
the start of talks. The first group, to include 40 prisoners, will be
freed within six weeks of the start of negotiations. No Israeli Arab
prisoners will be released.
After Shabbat ended on Saturday evening, Netanyahu released a statement on the renewal of negotiations.
"I view the resumption of the diplomatic
process at this time as a vital strategic interest for Israel,”
Netanyahu said. “It is important in and of itself in order to try and
bring about the conclusion of the conflict between us and the
Palestinians, and it is important in light of the strategic challenges
that are before us, mainly from Iran and Syria.”
"I have in mind a number of objectives --
preventing the creation of a binational state between the Jordan River
and the sea, which will endanger the future of the Jewish state, and
preventing the creation of another Iranian-backed terrorist state within
Israel's borders, which could no less endanger us."
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon welcomed the renewal of
negotiations, saying Israel has a genuine desire to reach an agreement
that ends the conflict with the Palestinians.
Shlomo Cesana, Yoni Hirsch, Daniel Siryoti, Yori Yalon and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=10833
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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