By Daoud Kuttab

The delay of the release of the fourth tranche of Palestinian prisoners and Israel’s bait that it will do so only if the Palestinians agree to extend the talks has failed to get a bite from Palestinian negotiators.

The fact that the Palestinians agreed to make a deal for their release, again, was an act of benevolence and a show of good faith to get the talks started. The idea that the last batch of prisoners be divided between those who have Israeli citizenship or residency and those whose residency is directly connected to the Palestinian government is also unacceptable to Palestinian leaders.

To break the logjam, Israel and the United States are trying new ideas, such as adding more prisoners to be released to the remaining 26 prisoners in return for an agreement by the Palestinian leadership to extend the talks a further six months. Again, the Palestinians are stubbornly opposing any change or compromise on an agreement already made. Continue Reading »

By Daoud Kuttab

Modern technological development has brought with it the term multitasking, a term that replaced the popular “Can you chew and walk at the same time.”

Palestinian negotiators are now facing the tough challenge of applying to join various UN agencies while, at the same time, agreeing, to continue peace talks until the end of April.

The action was publicly demonstrated by President Mahmoud Abbas who signed, on Tuesday, a document allowing the state of Palestine to join 15 different internationaltreaties.

Until recently, it was believed that Palestinians had to choose between joining international agencies or participating in the negotiations.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had extracted a commitment from Palestinians to refrain from such actions in return for Israel’s release of 104 Palestinian prisonerswho have spent more than 20 years in Israeli jails.

The release of those prisoners, held since before the start of the Oslo peace process, was agreed to during the Sharm El Sheikh agreement signed in September 1999.

Instead of releasing all the prisoners at one time, the Israelis decided on four stages, the last of which was due to take place at the end of March. However, Israel chose not to release of the final batch, insisting that they be released only if Palestinians agree to extend the talks that are due to conclude at the end of April.

Various efforts to make symbolic offers, such as releasing prisoners who have one month left to their term, to convince Palestinian negotiators have failed to change their mind, as they insisted on Israel to deliver as per the agreement. Continue Reading »