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Palestinians still hopeful on release of prisoners

A senior Palestinian official said a release by Israel of Palestinian prisoners would not go ahead on Saturday as envisaged but he hoped there would only be short delay.

“Today the prisoners will not be released... maybe in the coming days,” said Issa Qaraqae, the minister of prisoner affairs.

“We have told the families of the prisoners that they will not be released today,” he added.”

“There are efforts to solve the crisis and I believe that in 24 hours everything will be clearer.”

Under the deal that relaunched peace talks last July, Israel agreed to release 104 prisoners held since before the 1993 Oslo peace accords in exchange for the Palestinians not pressing their statehood claims at the United Nations.

So far, Israel has freed 78 prisoners in three batches but ministers had warned they would block the final release, which had been anticipated for Saturday, if the Palestinians refused to extend the talks beyond their April 29 deadline.

There has been no official Israeli update on the last batch of prisoners, which the Palestinians want to include Arab Israeli citizens, a demand hotly opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners and by hardliners within his own Likud party.

The cabinet convenes on Sunday morning for its weekly meeting.

Palestinian official Jibril Rajub, a member of Fatah’s central committee, said on Friday that “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.”

The peace talks have been teetering on the brink of collapse, with Washington fighting an uphill battle to get the two sides to agree to a framework for continued negotiations until the end of the year.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Abbas in Amman on Wednesday in a bid to salvage the talks, with US special envoy Martin Indyk meeting the Palestinian leader in Ramallah a day later.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Friday denied reports that negotiations had already collapsed.

“Any reports that suggest the talks are off are inaccurate,” she told journalists covering a visit to Saudi Arabia by Kerry and President Barack Obama.

“Ambassador Indyk and the negotiating team remain closely engaged with both parties on the ground and will continue to work over the coming days to help them bridge the gaps and determine the path forward.”

Israeli media say Netanyahu could give a green light to the prisoner release if the US frees Jonathan Pollard, who was arrested in Washington in 1985 and condemned to life imprisonment for spying on the United States for Israel.

Israel is not commenting on such reports, with Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev saying only that in general the spy’s fate is “often raised at high-level meetings between Israelis and Americans.”

On Wednesday, Psaki said “there are currently no plans to release Jonathan Pollard.”