The delay of the release of the fourth tranche of Palestinian prisoners and Israel’s bait that it will do so only if the Palestinians agree to extend the talks has failed to get a bite from Palestinian negotiators.

The Palestinians have repeatedly said that the agreement at the start of the nine-month negotiations was that in return for Palestine refraining from joining UN agencies, the Israelis would release 104 long-term prisoners. The prisoners talked about have already served more than 20 years in jail and their release had been agreed to in September 1999 and recorded in the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, a copy of which continues to exist on the Israeli Knesset website.

The fact that the Palestinians agreed to make a deal for their release, again, was an act of benevolence and a show of good faith to get the talks started. The idea that the last batch of prisoners be divided between those who have Israeli citizenship or residency and those whose residency is directly connected to the Palestinian government is also unacceptable to Palestinian leaders.

To break the logjam, Israel and the United States are trying new ideas, such as adding more prisoners to be released to the remaining 26 prisoners in return for an agreement by the Palestinian leadership to extend the talks a further six months. Again, the Palestinians are stubbornly opposing any change or compromise on an agreement already made.