PA still using terror as a bargaining chip

By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Feb 06, 2005

Jewish blood will again flow in the streets of Israeli cities unless all jailed Palestinian Arab terrorists are set free, a senior PA minister threatened Sunday.

"If the prisoners aren't released, we will return to the cycle of violence,” PA Communications Minister Azzam al-Ahmed told reporters, attesting to terrorism’s place as a bargaining chip for the “Palestinians” in their negotiations with Israel.

That position is consistent with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’s repeated pledge to following in the footsteps of deceased arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat.

Ahmed said Israel’s “intransigence on this issue” would cause Tuesday’s Sharm el-Sheikh summit to fail before it ever begins.

He made his comments shortly after Israeli and PA officials met Saturday night on the planned release of jailed Palestinian Arabs.

Israel last week offered to set free some 900 Arab prisoners as a goodwill gesture to Abbas, but said only those who had not participated in the murder of Israeli Jews would be eligible.

The PA called the offer “insulting.”

PA Minister of Negotiations Saeb Erekat reminded everyone that securing the release of the murderers of Jewish men, women and children “is one of the most important and sensitive issues for the Palestinians.”

Israel’s General Security Services, meanwhile, remains adamantly opposed to the Sharon government’s plans to use the release of prisoners as a diplomatic concession, Israel Radio reported.

GSS officials said the release would have two devastating consequences:

1. An eroding of Israel’s ability to deter terrorism by sentencing terrorist killers to severe jail terms;
2. And an increase in the potency of terrorists in the field, as the release prisoners will have gained a great deal of knowledge from their jailed colleagues during their time in prison.

Past prisoner releases have consistently resulted in an increase in successful anti-Jewish terrorist attacks.