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Itongadol.- A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) source announced Friday that Israel has told the PA it will not go through on the fourth and final batch of terrorist releases, which was set for Saturday night.
"The Israeli government has informed us through the American mediator that it will not abide with its commitment to release the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday 29," Jibril Rajoub told AFP.
Rajoub added "Israel has refused to commit to the names that were agreed upon of prisoners held by Israel since before the 1993 Oslo agreements."
The release, intended as a "gesture" to promote peace talks, has beenwidely protested in Israel. Many of the terrorists were convicted of murdering Israeli citizens. Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon threatened to resign if the move went through.
The PA for it\’s part has threatened unilateral moves for recognition at the UN next week, in breach of conditions of the peace talks, if the release doesn\’t take place.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has set the terrorist release, as well as a construction freeze in Judea and Samaria, as a condition for continued talks. Abbas has brought talks to a loggerhead by refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
Rajoub back in February said “if the talks fail, armed struggle against [Israel] could be a strategic solution for the Palestinian people,” Rajoub said, emphasizing that Palestinian terrorist groups “never abandoned the solution of an armed uprising.” The calls for renewed terrorism have been increasing lately in PA, and Abbas\’s Fatah movement.