‘Israel cancels release of Palestinian prisoners’

The Israeli regime has cancelled an already delayed release of a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners amid an impasse in the US-brokered talks between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

A source close to the embattled Israeli-Palestinian talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cited Israel’s chief negotiator Tzipi Livni as saying that the regime would not go ahead with the promised release of 26 Palestinian inmates, AFP reported on Thursday.

According to the source, the Tel Aviv regime made the announcement after the Palestinian Authority officially requested accession to several international treaties.

The Israeli-PA talks reached a new deadlock when the Tel Aviv regime refused to free the last tranche of 104 Palestinian prisoners in late March as part of a deal for the resumption of US-sponsored negotiations.

The move prompted the Palestinians to respond by applying to join 15 international agencies on April 1.

On Thursday, Yasser Abed Rabbo, deputy head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) criticized Tel Aviv’s refusal to release the final group of Palestinian inmates and said, “Israel has a habit of evading agreements and conventions it has signed.”

The PLO official also added that the basis for future talks with the Israeli regime must change.

Since the resumption of the direct talks last July, Palestinians have objected to a number of issues, including the Israeli regime’s illegal settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The PA also refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, saying it would not accept any agreement with the regime which fails to include East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of a future Palestinian state.