Weekly Commentary Straight Talk on the Palestinian Prisoner Issue
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 4 April 2013

When the Palestinian leadership claims that Israel is obligated to release
all the pre-Oslo terrorists still serving prison sentences it is nothing
less than a barefaced lie.

Let's walk through this:

Just as the Arabs ignore the significance of the missing "the" in UNSC 242
(the absence of the "the" makes 242 call for withdrawal but without
requiring full withdrawal) , they ignore the significance of the missing
"the" in The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum in the section dealing with the
release of prisoners.

Here is the relevant excerpt:

=======
The Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum on Implementation Timeline of Outstanding
Commitments of Agreements Signed and the Resumption of Permanent Status
Negotiations
(September 4, 1999)
...
3. Release of Prisoners

a. The two Sides shall establish a joint committee that shall follow-up on
matters related to release of Palestinian prisoners.

b. The Government of Israel shall release Palestinian and other prisoners
who committed their offences prior to September 13, 1993, and were arrested
prior to May 4, 1994. The Joint Committee shall agree on the names of those
who will be released in the first two stages. Those lists shall be
recommended to the relevant Authorities through the Monitoring and Steering
Committee;

c. The first stage of release of prisoners shall be carried out on September
5, 1999 and shall consist of 200 prisoners. The second stage of release of
prisoners shall be carried out on October 8, 1999 and shall consist of 150
prisoners;

d. The joint committee shall recommend further lists of names to be released
to the relevant Authorities through the Monitoring and Steering Committee;

e. The Israeli side will aim to release Palestinian prisoners before next
Ramadan.
=======

Again:

The phrase "The Government of Israel shall release Palestinian and other
prisoners..."

Means that some would be released - not ALL.

And it is obvious.

After all, consider the wording of 3d: "The joint committee shall recommend
further lists of names to be released to the relevant Authorities through
the Monitoring and Steering Committee;"

There is an ongoing release of SOME terrorists - not all of them.

This is a plain and simple misrepresentation of the text by the
Palestinians.

And it sends a very troubling signal that they continue to do this.

And it sends a disturbing signal that none of the many third parties
involved see fit to say anything.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il