PA Move at UN Points to Fragility of Peace Negotiations

The PA seeks legitimacy at the UN in defiance of peace negotiations following Israel’s decision not to free terrorists over the past weekend as scheduled.

The Palestinian Authority, in a unilateral move pointing to the crumbling of peace negotiations, took steps on Wednesday to seek legitimacy at the United Nations by applying to join 15 international organizations and treaties, including several UN bodies.

The applications, signed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in breach of the negotiating terms, were delivered by PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki to UN, Swiss and Dutch representatives.

“We are not doing this against America, but we still don’t see other ways forward,” Abbas told the press.

Following the PA’s bid on Wednesday to join the 15 agencies, Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel declared:

“The Palestinians applying to the UN breaks all the rules and we must respond in kind – by canceling the Oslo Accords, which have only brought terror and murder.”

The near-collapse of the peace negotiations became evident since Israel declined to free 26 terrorists from prison on Saturday night as scheduled. The decision was due to a lack of concessions on the Palestinian side, including refusal to recognize the Jewish state.

Pollard as Chip in Peace Negotiations Offends Israelis

American Secretary of State John Kerry has been scrambling to save the peace negotiations. Efforts have included suggestions that American-Israeli prisoner Jonathan Pollard, who has been languishing in American prison for 29 years, could be sent home before the upcoming Passover holiday.

“The Americans are playing a game with Pollard’s fate, and this makes me very angry,” Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon told Israel National News. Danon was among several politicians decrying the offer as cynical and corrupt.

On Wednesday evening, families of terror victims marched in the streets of downtown Jerusalem towards the Prime Minister’s residence – passing several sites where suicide bombers had murdered their loved ones – in a plea to the Israeli leadership to keep the violent prisoners incarcerated.

At a press conference a day earlier in front of Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s home, Meir Indor, head of the Almagor Terror Victims Association, warned against using Pollard as a “poker chip in a flagrantly immoral scheme to win concessions from Israel” in the US-brokered peace negotiations.

“Instead of fighting terror, this latest round of immoral and dangerous American pressure [to bring about freedom for terrorists] would be a clear victory for terror, freeing murderers who are likely to return to killing Jews,” Indor stated.

“Opening our prison gates also makes heroes out of criminals and encourages others to follow in their murderous ways, knowing that if they are caught and imprisoned, they will be set free in the next prisoner exchange,” he said.

Indeed, Abbas has received previously released PA terrorists as heroes.

“The Palestinians have proven once again that there is no reason to…release terrorists and murderers for a process whose conclusion is well known in advance,” Ariel stated.

Author: Atara Beck, Staff Writer, United with Israel
Date: Apr. 2, 2014

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