“He who is merciful unto the Cruel will eventually be cruel unto the Merciful” (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:16)

In an effort to jump-start the current round of peace talks with Palestinians, the Knesset agreed to release more than one hundred Palestinian prisoners who have been held since before the Oslo Accords over the next nine months.  The list of the first group of prisoners to be released was authorized Sunday night by a special Knesset committee.  The release date is set 48 hours hence, to allow for appeals to the High Court once the list is made public.

The committee charged with composing the list of prisoners for release included Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Perry.  The list approved Sunday consists of prisoners whose release dates are approaching in any case within the next six months to three years.

The decision to release terrorists in exchange for Palestinian cooperation at the negotiating table did not come easily.  Many Knesset lawmakers have a personal stake in the question, either as bereaved relatives of terror victims or through their own actions to capture prisoners.  Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar put it eloquently at the outset of the Knesset debate: “It would be easy and popular to vote against, but what would happen if all of us, or even half of us, vote against? A negative vote means that Israel rejects the understandings the prime minister reached with the US secretary of state. Negotiations will not begin, and Israel will be blamed, even by its best friends in the world.”

Several ministers explained their decision to support the move by saying that although the risk of releasing prisoners was high, so was allowing the current situation continue.  According to Shin Bet (Israeli secret service) head Yoram Cohen, the very fact of negotiations with Palestinians may lead to a calming of tensions and reduction in terror.

The state issued a statement, however, indicating that the prisoner release was conditional on the progress of peace talks.  Should talks fail to progress, the release could be cancelled.  Additionally, Netanyahu is set to demand that dangerous prisoners be exiled to Gaza, and not allowed to return to their former homes in Judea and Samaria.

However, The Times Of Israel reported on Sunday that PA President Mahmoud Abbas said “that no freed Palestinian prisoners will be deported, despite claims by Israel that it will demand that some be sent to Gaza or neighboring Arab countries.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu wrote a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry complaining that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continues to incite his people against Israel.  Incitement and peace negotiations, according to the letter, are a contradiction in terms.

“Incitement and peace cannot coexist,” Netanyahu wrote. “Instead of educating the next generation to live in peace with Israel, education for hatred poisons them against Israel.”  Repeated statements by Palestinian celebrities and high-profile individuals have expressed a claim to all of Israel as the site of a future Palestinian state.  Moreover, in July, Abbas himself stated that any future Palestinian state would be free of Israelis.

“Rather than educate the next generation of Palestinians to live in peace with Israel, this hate education lays the ground for continued violence, terror and conflict,” the letter continued.

At the same time, the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a group of 1,200 rabbis from across North America and Israel, sent a letter to Netanyahu and all members of Knesset urging them not to release prisoners.

“We unequivocally affirm that according to Jewish Law, if you cannot withstand the political pressure, each one of you is morally obligated to resign immediately. Releasing even one terrorist endangers Jewish lives. A recent research found that 75 percent of the terrorists that have been released in the past revert to attack Jews. This also encourages others to engage in terrorism confident that they will be released. Thus it is better that the whole government resign than to release even one terrorist.”