Palestinian prisoner release is off: Israeli FM
AP, Tuesday 8 Apr 2014


Israel's foreign minister says a planned Palestinian prisoner release will not happen as long as Palestinians pursue their bid to join U.N. agencies.

Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday accused the Palestinians of breaking the terms of the U.S.-brokered peace talks. He says Palestinians should "pay a price" for this.

Under the terms of renewed talks, Israel had promised to release 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners in four groups, while the Palestinians said they would suspend a campaign to sign up the "state of Palestine" for various U.N. agencies.

But as the talks stalled last month, Israel failed to release the fourth group of prisoners on time.

The Palestinians then signed letters of accession for 15 international conventions.

Lieberman described the Palestinian move as highly "provocative."

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