Netanyahu Expects Divided Cabinet to Approve Prisoner Release

Atop the agenda of Sunday’s meeting of the Israeli cabinet is approval for releasing 104 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons for security crimes, including murder, since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. The release is a virtual condition-precedent for Palestinian agreement to proceed with US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to re-start the peace process. Israeli minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Sa’ib Ariqat are expected to meet in Washington on Tuesday to hash-out the ground rules for the return to talks under Kerry’s aegis. Most in Israel believe Prime Minister Netanyahu will receive the green light to proceed, but not before a raucous session of the cabinet pits coalition members against each other, including opposition from the prime minister’s own party. On the Palestinian side there remains some uncertainty about whether Ariqat will be dispatched unless all of President Mahmoud Abbas’ preconditions are met, including an Israeli acceptance of the pre-1967 borders as the baseline for talks. Prior to announcing the talks would resume, SecState Kerry reportedly guaranteed the Palestinians that this would be the case, but the Palestinians want to hear it from Prime Minister Netanyahu.  Meanwhile, the Gallup organization released a new poll indicating strong doubt among Palestinians that Secretary Kerry will have any more success than his predecessors. 74% do not believe the US is “more serious” about brokering an agreement agreeable to both sides while only a paltry 12% expressed belief that the Obama administration could oversee a deal acceptable to both sides.  66% of Palestinians said outright that they don’t trust the US to be an honest broker. The poll was taken prior to Kerry’s announcement that talks will resume.