The Zionist Organization of America, which has fought long and hard to secure the release of long-jailed Jonathan Pollard by lobbying legislators, meeting government officials, writing articles, letters and press releases urging his release, nonetheless and with a heavy heart opposes the Obama Administration’s proposal that he be freed in return for unjust, unwise and immoral Israel concessions.
The Zionist Organization of America has criticized the Israeli government for proceeding with an earlier decision to free 26 convicted and jailed Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails as part of a phased freeing of 104 such terrorists. The freeing of the terrorists, decided upon in July 2013 and strongly opposed by the ZOA at the time, came about as an Israeli concession –– not to in return for any Palestinian concession or moderation, but merely for the Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA)’s agreement to meet Israelis at the negotiating table.
…The ZOA has long argued that freeing jailed terrorists in exchange for kidnapped Israelis rewards terrorists; makes a mockery of justice – and inflicts unimaginable pain on families of the victims – when murderers walk free…
Follow the link to the full press release.
A senior Palestinian source told The Associated Press that the Palestinian team in Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks has rejected an Israeli proposal for a Palestinian state under provisional borders, saying that the PA fears that the provisional borders would become permanent.
“Israel is using the issue of security to take land,” he said. “From the general discussions we had in the last couple of weeks, the Israelis have shown no intention to dismantle any settlement.”
The Palestinian source said the current proposals indicated that Israel would seek to retain control over about 40 percent of the West Bank. Other senior officials in Ramallah indicated that negotiations “are not advancing and will likely soon collapse.”