On Tuesday, as part of a US-brokered peace efforts, Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners after pledging to push settlement plans for building more homes in the Jewish settlements.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, was due to return on Thursday to seek a framework agreement in dialogues that have shown few signs of progress. Kerry’s shuttle diplomacy led to a recommencement of the Middle Eastern negotiations in July after a three-year break.
The latest group of prisoners is the third of four to go free, as Israel agreed to set 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners free. This is part of the US-led efforts that coaxed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiations after a three-year break, reports Reuters.
With the release of the prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel has announced to begin new construction in Jewish settlements where Palestinians seek for a state.
Most of the 26 prisoners released committed offenses and nearly all were incarcerated before the first Israeli-Palestinian short-term peace deals that were signed over 20 years ago.
The returning home of the brethren was happily welcomed by the Palestinians, who regard them as national heroes. However, the families of the Israelis who were killed or injured by the prisoners have expressed anger and mounted unsuccessful court challenges against their release.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration which includes pro-settlement parties would be announcing plans after the latest prisoners release to construct 1400 more homes for Jewish settlers in the West Bank, said an Israeli official said last week.
Palestinians see the Jewish settlements, which is regarded as illegal by most nations, as an obstacle to achieving a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
During the 1967 Middle East war, Israel captured those territories and pulled out of the Gaza Strip which is currently ruled by Hamas Islamists opposed to the U.S. peace efforts, in 2005.
Israel says the housing projects are in areas it intends to keep in any future agreement. However, Palestinian officials have warned the Israeli government that the settlement push could prevent the chances for a peace deal between the two governments.
Another move that drew Palestinian anger came on Sunday when an Israeli ministerial committee authorised future legislation to occupy an area of the West Bank likely to be the eastern border of a future Palestinian state.
The new step being supported by far-right members of Netanyahu's Likud party, could weigh on the peace negotiations. However, centrist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator, said she would use her powers to block the legislation from being voted on in Parliament.
