U.S., Egyptians meet with Palestinians, Israelis amid tensions in peace pr

[Darranar]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/07/09/international1511EDT0672.DTL

U.S. and Egyptian mediators met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Wednesday amid an impasse over Palestinian prisoners held in Israel that threatens to torpedo the brittle, 11-day-old Mideast cease-fire.

Top Israeli and Palestinian officials both expressed continued support for the cease-fire, but each side said the other must take further steps. The spiritual leader of the Hamas militant group also said the truce would continue, but warned that patience was running out over the prisoners.

Palestinians are insisting on the release of the estimated 7,000 prisoners held in Israel, most on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. Palestinian officials argue this would provide credibility to the moderate government of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
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More calls for releasing terrorists with blood on their hands. Will this ever end?

[Tinoire]

1. Are you so sure they have 'blood on their hands' ?

Please remember also that Israel had agreed to do this long ago.

One of the many cries of the Israeli Left groups is that many of those people are innocent and are being held without trial. There are also many children imprisoned.

Israel is holding about 6,000 Palestinians on security-related charges; 1,000 of these are in administrative detention, meaning they face indefinite imprisonment without trial.


Gush Shalom has been instrumental in exposing this because this is not how a Democracy acts and if Israel wants to be considered one, it needs to act like one. Ashcroft USA is neither an example, an excuse, nor a Democracy.

Lots of information at the Palestinian Prisoner Society
http://www.ppsmo.org/e-website/

Also here a 1995 agreement with the PLO that Israel still has not honored. Nor has Israel honored the Wye River Agreement to release 350 Palestinians held for anti-Israeli activities.

Does this at all remind you of all the treaties the White American government made with the Indigenous Americans? :shrug:

Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement
Annex VII - Release of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees

1. The release of detainees and prisoners, as agreed upon in Article XVI of this Agreement will be carried out in three stages.

2. The following categories of detainees and/or prisoners will be included in the above-mentioned releases:
a. all female detainees and prisoners shall be released in the first stage of release;
b. persons who have served more than two thirds of their sentence;
c. detainees and/or prisoners charged with or imprisoned for security offenses not involving fatality or serious injury;
d. detainees and/or prisoners charged with or convicted of non-security criminal offenses; and
e. citizens of Arab countries being held in Israel pending implementation of orders for their deportation.

3. Detainees and prisoners from among the categories detailed in this paragraph, who meet the criteria set out in paragraph 2 above, are being considered by Israel to be eligible for release:
a. prisoners and/or detainees aged 50 years and above;
b. prisoners and/or detainees under 18 years of age;
c. prisoners who have been imprisoned for 10 years or more; and
d. sick and unhealthy prisoners and/or detainees.

4. The third stage of release will take place during the permanent status negotiations and will involve the categories set out above, and may explore further categories.

http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/agreements/meast.html

[Darranar]

2. I am saying...

that a release of terrorists is not accpetable. I DO support the release of many others from the jails, certainly more than the Israelis are releasing. The part about releasing all females I disagree with, judging by the females who have been suicide bombers.

[Gimel]

3. Wye River Memorandum

This was designed to help implement the Interim Agreement of 1995.

***********************

Release of Prisoners

The release of prisoners by Israel was not specifically included in the Wye Memorandum, but it was agreed that 750 prisoners would be released in three phases. Israel has released prisoners in full compliance with both the Wye understanding and the Interim Agreement, and with Israel's clear statement at the Wye talks that it would not release prisoners that were members of the Hamas or Islamic Jihad organizations or who have blood on the hands. Although the provisions of the Interim Agreement and the Wye understanding on this issue are perfectly clear, the Palestinian side has raised new demands, insisting on the release of terrorists with blood on their hands, which have no basis in any of the agreements between the two sides. Moreover, rather than condemn or seek to calm the violent demonstrations that have been fomented over this issue, Palestinian leaders have condoned and even encouraged such violence.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH07ok0


*****************************************************

11. The following are the Palestinian commitments:

(a) They will submit a working paper setting forth how they will fight terrorism.

(b) The Palestinians will arrest and punish persons suspected of involvement in terrorist operations and in violence.

(c) They will refrain from activating the "revolving door" policy.

(d) Illegal arms will be confiscated.

(e) They will act to prevent incitement.

(f) There will be full Israeli-Palestinian cooperation in security matters. An Israeli-American-Palestinian security committee will be established to facilitate this cooperation and to monitor the fight against terrorism.

(g) The Palestinians will submit to Israel a list of policemen in accordance with the number permitted under the terms of the Interim Agreement. The United States has guaranteed that Israel will receive full information in this regard, and an Israeli-Palestinian steering committee will supervise the implementation of this commitment.

(h) All the members of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) - "The members" in the text of the Memorandum - will be invited, together with the members of the PLO Central Committee, the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the department heads of the Palestinian Authority, for the purpose of adopting a decision ratifying the abolition of the articles of the Palestinian National Covenant that Israel has demanded to be abolished. Prior to the convening of the PNC, such a decision will also be adopted by the PLO Executive Committee and by that organization's Central Council. The President of the United States will address the meeting at which this decision will be adopted.

(i) The stipulation in the Interim Agreement regarding the transfer of suspects and persons under indictment was reaffirmed.

12. The Redeployments:

(a) The three stages of Israel's redeployment will be carried out, as stated above, only after the Palestinians will have implemented their own appropriate commitment at each stage.

(b) At the completion of the entire process, including the implementation of all the commitments at the various stages, Israel will have transferred to the Palestinians the following areas:


One percent of Judea-Samaria (the "West Bank") from Area C to Area A;

12 percent from Area C to Area B;

14.2 percent from Area B to Area A.
(c) 3 percent of the territory to be transferred to the Palestinians from Area C to Area B will be defined as a green area, or nature reserve - in other words, as an area in which Israel will continue to be responsible for security, in which there is to be no further housing construction and no increase in the population. That is, Israel will have more authority in this area than it has in Area B.

(d) Israel made it clear, in the various discussions, that if and when there will be a third redeployment, this will be no more than one percent in scope. It will be recalled that the scope of the redeployment is to be determined by Israel and is not subject to negotiation (see the Interim Agreement and the Note for the Record).

13. Agreement was reached with regard to the industrial park in Gaza and the airport at Dahaniya, the activation of the safe passage between the Gaza district and Judea-Samaria (the "West Bank") and the work of the Legal Committee and the Economic Committee concerning the various subjects on the agenda.

14. There is to be an immediate and accelerated resumption of the negotiations. The two sides have undertaken to refrain from unilateral steps that would alter the status of the area, until the permanent status negotiations will have been completed.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH07ok0

The Wye River Memorandum
October 23, 1998
An Analysis

Background

The Wye River Memorandum is a comprehensive and detailed document, signed between Israel and the Palestinians, designed to break the deadlock in the current peace process, to resolve the outstanding interim period issues and to enable the two sides to go on to tackle the issues of the permanent status negotiations.

The Memorandum does not replace the former agreements. Instead it provides that the provisions of the Memorandum are "subject to the relevant terms and conditions of the prior agreements and do not supersede their other requirements". Accordingly, although the Memorandum places the focus of Palestinian obligations firmly on Palestinian security commitments, it does not absolve the Palestinian side from any of its obligations, including those set out in the Interim Agreement and the Note for the Record.

Further Redeployment

Under the Interim Agreement, Israel undertook to effect a process of further redeployment within the West Bank in three phases. The Interim Agreement specifically provides that these phases were to be implemented commensurate with the assumption by the Palestinian side of its security responsibilities. The failure of the Palestinian side to implement those responsibilities, and in particular the fact that nothing was done to prevent areas transferred to Palestinian authority from becoming places of refuge for terrorists, prevented Israel, in turn, from implementing the further redeployment provisions.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH07oj0


The Tenet Plan and the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum were to assist in the process as well. These efforts were abandoned with the outbreak of the second Intifada.

********************************************

On September 4, 1999, the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum was signed by representatives of Israel and the PLO. Restating the commitment of the two sides to full implementation of all agreements reached since September 1993, the Memorandum sets out to resolve the outstanding issues of the present interim status, in particular those set out in the Wye Memorandum of October 23, 1998, thus forming a kind of bridge between the completion of the interim period and the initiation of the permanent status.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0fxv0