Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians are reportedly on the verge of collapse after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas defied the United States and Israel by taking unilateral steps to join 15 international agencies.
Abbas’s actions prompted US Secretary of State John Kerry to cancel a planned visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday, in which he had expected to complete an agreement extending negotiations through 2015, according to the 'New York Times'.
Under the deal, the United States would release Jonathan Pollard, an American convicted of spying for Israel in the 1980s, while Israel would free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and slow down settlement construction in the West Bank.
Abbas, who had vowed not to seek membership in international bodies expiration of the talks at the end of April, said he was taking this course because Israel had failed to release a fourth batch of long-serving Palestinian prisoners by the end of March, as had been promised. Israeli officials said they were not bound by their pledge because no meaningful negotiations had taken place since November.
Meanwhile, a member of Israel's government reacted strongly to the news. The 'Times of Israel' quoted Tourism Minister Uzi Landau as saying that Israel could retaliate by annexing territory, or by imposing financial sanctions on the Palestinians. “If they are now threatening [to go to UN institutions], they must know something simple: They will pay a heavy price,” Landau said, adding: “One of the possible measures will be Israel applying sovereignty over areas that will clearly be part of the State of Israel in any future solution."
