The Palestinians' demand for Arab Israelis to figure among 26 prisoners due for release under US-brokered peace efforts has stirred an outcry in Israel's coalition government that could wreck the initiative. "My party and I shall oppose at any price the release of Arab Israeli terrorists," Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharo**vitch, of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, told public radio on Sunday. Deputy defence minister Danny Da**n, a hawkish member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, has already pledged to resign if Arab Israelis are included in the deal. The hardline religious nationalist Jewish Home party has also threatened to quit Netanyahu's coalition if imprisoned Arab Israelis or Palestinian residents of Jerusalem walk free.
03-25-2014, 01:07 AM
Arab Israeli prisoners row endangers peace initiative
The Palestinians' demand for Arab Israelis to figure among 26 prisoners due for release under US-brokered peace efforts has stirred an outcry in Israel's coalition government that could wreck the initiative. "My party and I shall oppose at any price the release of Arab Israeli terrorists," Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharo**vitch, of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, told public radio on Sunday. Deputy defence minister Danny Da**n, a hawkish member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, has already pledged to resign if Arab Israelis are included in the deal. The hardline religious nationalist Jewish Home party has also threatened to quit Netanyahu's coalition if imprisoned Arab Israelis or Palestinian residents of Jerusalem walk free.
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