Israel shuns Palestinian prisoner deal - Middle East - Al Jazeera English:
Israel is to renege on a commitment to release a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, a move that delivers another blow to US-brokered peace talks.
A senior Palestinian official, Jibril Rajub, told AFP on Friday that Israel had informed the Palestinians via US mediators that it would not abide by its commitment to release the prisoners on Saturday, March 29.
"Israel has refused to commit to the names that were agreed upon of prisoners held by Israel since before the 1993 Oslo agreements," Rajub said.
The Palestinians have threatened to walk away from the peace talks if the prisoners are not released.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
Israel had made a commitment to release a final group of 26 veteran Palestinian prisoners on March 29 [AFP]
