Despite prisoner release, any Israeli settlement construction may end talks

The third release of Palestinian prisoners was completed Dec. 31, and senior Palestinian Authority officials are counting the days to the fateful visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry to Ramallah at the end of next week. The Palestinian Authority is concerned that Israel will announce additional construction in the settlements in the time between the prisoner release and Kerry’s visit. This pattern of announcing construction simultaneously with the release of prisoners is an old story to the Palestinians and has already threatened to derail the talks in the past.

We recall how the Palestinian negotiating team headed by Saeb Erekat resigned after the second prisoner release wave when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced, simultaneously with the release of the 26 prisoners, construction tenders for 5,000 new housing units in the settlements.

Recently, political sources leaked to the Israeli media that Netanyahu intends to announce additional construction in the settlements once again. This time, however, it is rumored that the construction will not be confined to the large settlement blocks but will also take place in additional Judea-Samaria settlements.

Again, the “prisoner-release compensation” equation also threatens to halt the talks, but this time for good. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Palestinian Authority Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Karake warned unequivocally that if Netanyahu announces another round of construction in the settlements, the Palestinians will announce the end of the talks. In such case, no Palestinian leadership representative would be willing to appear to the Palestinian public as a collaborator, or as the one who participated, even only tacitly, in promoting additional construction in the settlements.