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[Update2] :
○ US envoy Indyk to meet with Palestinians as Washington evaluates role in talks

[Update1] : Israel reneged on 4th prisoner release. Netanyahu was faced with a coalition that wouldn’t survive further deals to advance peace talks with Palestinians as Bennett threatened to leave. The peace talks are dead as Israel’s cabinet decided to cancel prisoner release and any futher comprehensive deals involving the release of spy Jonathan Pollard. The Palestinian Authority has set new conditions for agreeing to extend the peace talks with Israel after April: complete halt of settlement construction, PA sovereignty over Area C, and no IDF operations in PA-controlled territories.

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THE JONATHAN JAY POLLARD ESPIONAGE CASE: A DAMAGE ASSESSMENT [pdf]

Will Obama throw in the joker? Who is dictating and frustrating these talks which haven’t delivered anything. There is no advance in getting parties closer to one another, the talks have been dead ended for purpose of short-term self-interest. Where is the promised framewok agreement John Kerry would deliver as outline for final negotiation?

Details of plan to free Pollard, save floundering peace talks emerge

(JPost) – US Secretary of State John Kerry left Israel Tuesday morning as details emerged of a possible deal that would lead to the release of imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard by passover and would ensure the continuation of peace talks into 2015.

Officials included in the talks said that the emerging deal contains the following elements:

  1. Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard will be released before the first Passover seder on Monday April 14.
  2. The negotiations will continue into 2015, during which time the Palestinians will commit themselves not to engage in diplomatic warfare against Israel by going to international organizations for recognition.
  3. Israel will release the fourth batch of 26 Palestinians convicted of terror acts before the 1993 Oslo Accords. Some Israeli-Arabs will be included in the release, although it is not yet certain how many.
  4. Israel will release an additional 400 Palestinian prisoners during the continuing negotiation period. These prisoners will be picked by Israel, will include many minors and women, and will not include those with “blood on their hands.”
  5. Israel will “exercise restraint” in releasing government tenders for new homes in the West Bank, meaning that it will issue no new government tenders for housing in Judea and Samaria. This policy will not include Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem beyond the Green Line. This policy will also exclude public building projects such as roads. Israel has rejected a total settlement freeze.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was informing key players in the Israeli political scene about the plan. It will have to go before the cabinet for approval. Palestinian officials say Kerry might return to the region on Wednesday.

Rumors swirl of imminent release of Pollard by US as part of negotiations to prolong talks between Israel and Palestinians. Latest developments as updates below the fold …

Pollard dilemma ‘on the president’s desk,’ but no decision made

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration considers releasing Jonathan Pollard an option in its limited toolkit on how to handle floundering peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. But while the decision of whether to release him now rests with US President Barack Obama, he has not yet made up his mind, one US source told The Jerusalem Post.

Pollard’s fate is now “on the president’s desk,” the official said. Both Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate expressed deep skepticism at the prospect of Pollard’s release on Tuesday.

“This was a major betrayal and I’ve followed it over the years,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the intelligence committee, told The Daily Beast. “It’s one thing if there’s an agreement. It’s another thing totally if there isn’t.” Her Republican counterpart, Senator Saxby Chambliss, said that the US should never release Pollard, who he said had done “a lot of harm to America.”

Peace Talks Falter, Kerry Cancels Visit to Ramallah

(JPost) – The Palestinian Authority decided Tuesday to launch plans to join 15 international organizations and treaties in protest against Israel’s failure to release the fourth and final batch of Palestinian prisoners. The unexpected decision came just a day before US Secretary of State John Kerry had been due to travel to Ramallah for talks aimed at finalizing a complex, three-way deal that would enable the talks to continue into 2015.

However, a US official said that trip would now be cancelled.

A senior PA official said that despite the decision the Palestinians would not walk out of the peace talks with Israel. “We are committed to pursuing the negotiations until the end of April,” the official told The Jerusalem Post.

“We have no intention of obstructing American efforts to reach an agreement.” The official said he did not know whether Abbas would meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Ramallah on Wednesday. The decision was announced following a meeting of PLO and Fatah officials in Ramallah to discuss the current crisis in the peace talks with Israel.

Abbas pointed out that the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners was supposed to be freed on March 29.

Abbas said that Kerry had made “superb efforts” to boost the peace process. “We met with him 39 times since the beginning of the negotiations [with Israel],” he added. “We are not acting against anyone. We are only trying to find another way. This is our right and we agreed to delay it for nine months. Abbas said that in light of Israeli “procrastination,” the Palestinians had no other choice but to go ahead with the plans.

Kerry Cancels Visit with Palestinian Leader After He Moves to Join U.N. Agencies, Threatening Peace Talks

(NY Times) – Mr. Kerry, who had flown from Israel to Brussels for a NATO meeting on Tuesday and was planning to return to see Mr. Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, on Wednesday, said he was no longer making the trip.

It was unclear from his remarks whether Mr. Kerry or Mr. Abbas — or both — had canceled the meeting. Nor was it clear what the cancellation might mean for the peace talks, but Mr. Kerry insisted at a news conference in Brussels that the peace process was not dead.

“It is completely premature to draw any judgment about this at this point in time,” Mr. Kerry said.

He urged both sides to show restraint and said that each side indicated they were prepared to explore the possibilities for peace. “Even tonight, both parties say they want to try and continue to find a way forward,” Mr. Kerry said.

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