Some of those to be released had been held in prisons for decades, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said.
His announcement came hours after U.S. Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
said Israeli and Paleostinian negotiators had agreed to meet to pave the way for a resumption of direct peace talks.
| No doubt The Second Smartest Man In The Room is proud of his accomplishment. |
Steinitz said his government would engage in the staggered release of a "limited number" of prisoners, some of whom he defined as "heavyweights", who have been in jail for up to 30 years.
"There will definitely be a certain gesture here", he said without noting how many prisoners were to be freed.
According to Israeli rights group B'Tselem, at least 4,713 Paleostinians are imprisoned in the Jewish state.
Their release is one of the Paleostinians' key demands for resuming peace talks, particularly the 107 prisoners placed in durance vile
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
prior to 1993, when the Oslo peace accords were signed.
An Israeli official said no prisoners would be released before direct talks begin and the process would then be dependent on the Paleostinians proving they are "really serious and not playing games".
"It won't happen tomorrow and not next week," the official told Agence La Belle France Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
. He could give no indication of the number of prisoners involved.
He said the releases, once they begin, would take place in stages and include "pre-Oslo prisoners, prisoners set to be released anyway, and those the Paleostinians 'forgot' during the Oslo accords".
Steinitz said Israel would not compromise "diplomatic issues", and that there was no agreement on a settlement construction freeze or on accepting the borders that existed prior to 1967 Six-Day war as the basis for talks, as the Paleostinians demand.
He said for their part the Paleostinians had committed to "negotiate seriously" for "at least nine months," during which they would refrain from action at the United Nation and other international institutions.
Kerry gave away very little detail of the agreement, which came after four days of consultations with Israeli and Paleostinian leaders.
Just minutes before boarding a plane to fly home from Jordan, Kerry said both sides had reached "an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations".
"This is a significant and welcome step forward," he added, having doggedly pushed the two sides to agree to resume talks in six intense trips to the region since becoming secretary of state in February.
A State Department official said Kerry had wrenched a commitment from both sides "on the core elements that will allow direct talks to begin".
The Israelis and Paleostinians remain far apart on final status issues including the borders of a future Paleostinian state, the right of return of Paleostinian refugees, and the fate of Jerusalem which both want as their capital.
Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
has also repeatedly called for a freeze to Israeli settlement building and a prisoner release.
According to a Paleostinian official, "The ball is now in Israel's court. Kerry has proposed the bases for a resumption of negotiations and asked (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to respond favorably to one of them."
"The bases are the release of Paleostinians jugged
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
before the Oslo accords, minors, the sick or the elderly," he said on condition of anonymity. "And that Israel recognize the 1967 (border) lines as a reference point, or a halt to settlement building."
The official said Netanyahu had agreed to hold a special cabinet session to draw up Israel's response to Kerry's proposals.
"If Israel accepts them, negotiations will resume."
The Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement which runs the Gazoo Strip rejected a return to talks, saying Abbas had no legitimate right to negotiate on behalf of the Paleostinian people.
And the leftist
Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine... Paleostinian Marxist movement, founded in 1967. It is considered a terrorist organization by more than 30 countries including the U.S., European Union, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica. The PFLP's stated goal is the establishment of a socialist State in Paleostine. They pioneered armed aircraft hijackings in the late 60s and early 70s...
warned that "a return to talks outside the framework of the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
and its resolutions would be political suicide".