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<h1 class="article-title"><small>Israel Offers Prisoners Release in
Exchange for Palestinian UN Bid</small></h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails">
<span class="article-details"><span class="article-detail"><img
class="icon" src="cid:part1.02090507.08090509@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Tuesday August 07, 2012 15:18</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.00030300.02090402@freedomarchives.org" alt="author"> by
Craig Harrington </span></span><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/64028">http://www.imemc.org/article/64028</a><br>
<br>
</div>
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to
release political prisoners in exchange for the Palestinian Authority
dropping its upcoming bid for statehood recognition at the United
Nations.
<p class="article"> In a move to avoid a showdown at the United Nations
in coming months, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has offered prisoner
release in exchange for Palestine dropping its bid for UN membership,
reports Ma’an News. Up to 50 prisoners would be involved in the
prospective exchange. The Hebrew-language publication Maariv also
reported the announcement. <br>
<br>
In addition to the release of prisoners, Netanyahu offered to return to
the peace negotiations that he walked away from nearly two years ago. <br>
<br>
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been planning to seek
official state recognition at the United Nations for more than two
years. The Abbas government knows that it has the support of the vast
majority of the voting members of the UN General Assembly. Other than
the United States, Palestine’s statehood bid is likely to have the
support, or at worst the abstention, of the other ‘veto’ members of the
UN Security Council. <br>
<br>
The decision by Netanyahu to offer prisoner release is important on
several levels. No state would release actual terrorists as doing so
would combine negotiating with terrorists, caving to the demands of
terrorism, and undermining the safety of the country and its people.
Many of the thousands of Palestinians currently detained in Israeli
prisoners have been implicitly linked to terrorism. Their release would
be a ready admission by the Israeli government that the prisoners it
holds in indefinite detention do not present a real threat to Israeli
safety and are instead ‘political prisoners’ – something expressly
forbidden by international human rights law. <br>
<br>
In addition to the admission that Israel arrest and detention policies
are not expressly aimed toward building peace and security, the offered
prisoner release may indicate that the Netanyahu government is running
out of options to stall the Palestinian Authority. <br>
<br>
The government in Ramallah already knows that any UN resolution would
be vetoed by the United States and condemned by the few lock-step
allies of Israel. Such a resolution would also potentially result in
crippling economic sanctions on the already depressed Palestinian
economy. Knowing the risks the PA has decided to continue pursuing its
course and could bring a resolution to the General Assembly as early as
next month. <br>
<br>
The Palestinian Authority has offered no indication that it has
considered Tel Aviv’s latest tactic to stall international recognition.
Nimir Hammad, an advisor to the Palestinian President, refused to link
any prospective UN bid with a prisoner release. </p>
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