ABOUT POLLARD
Born in Galveston, Texas and raised in South Bend, Ind., Jonathan Pollard was hired as a Navy intelligence analyst in 1979. The Israelis recruited him to pass along U.S. secrets, including satellite photos and data on Soviet weaponry in the 1980s. He was arrested in Washington in 1985 after unsuccessfully seeking refuge at the Israeli Embassy. He pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents to Israel and received a life sentence. Pollard, 59, is said to be in poor health and his case has become a rallying cry in Israel, where leaders say his punishment is excessive. But U.S. intelligence officials have argued that his release would harm national security and that the U.S. must maintain a strong deterrent to spying.
Associated Press
The United States is talking with Israel about releasing convicted spy Jonathan Pollard early from his life sentence as an incentive to the Israelis in the troubled Mideast peace negotiations, people familiar with the talks said Monday.
Releasing Pollard, a thorn in U.S.-Israeli relations for three decades, would be an extraordinary step underscoring the urgency of U.S. peace efforts.
Two people describing the talks cautioned that such a release — which would be a dramatic turnaround from previous refusals — was far from certain and that discussions with Israel on the matter were continuing. Both spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks on the record.
In return for the release, the people close to the talks said, Israel would have to undertake significant concessions to the Palestinians in Middle East negotiations. Such concessions could include some kind of freeze on Israeli settlements in disputed territory, the release of Palestinian prisoners beyond those Israel has already agreed to free and a guarantee that Israel would stay at the negotiating table beyond an end-of-April deadline.
Secretary of State John Kerry met for several hours late Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before sitting down with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and another Palestinian official. Kerry was expected to meet again this morning with Netanyahu before flying to Brussels for NATO talks on Ukraine.
U.S. defense and intelligence officials have consistently argued against releasing Pollard.
Pollard, an American Jew, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he gave thousands of classified documents to his Israeli handlers. President Barack Obama and his predecessors have refused to release Pollard despite pleas from Israeli leaders.
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday declined to discuss any possible deal.
“He is a person who is convicted of espionage and is serving his sentence. I don’t have any updates on his situation,” Carney told reporters at the White House.
Ahead of his trip to the Middle East last March, Obama told Israeli television station Channel 2 that Pollard “is an individual who committed a very serious crime here in the United States.”
Obama said he recognized the emotions involved in the situation. But he added, “As the president, my first obligation is to observe the law here in the United States and to make sure that it’s applied consistently.”
The long-running Middle East peace negotiations are snagged over several issues, including wither Israel will agree to release more than two dozen prisoners. They include 14 Arab Israelis whom Palestinian authorities consider to be heroes and freedom fighters. Israel considers them terrorists.
Israel has already released three other groups of prisoners as part of the peace negotiations that began last July. All had served lengthy terms for involvement in attacks on Israelis, and scenes of them returning to jubilant celebrations have angered the Israeli public.
Netanyahu has sought to link a Pollard release to peace talks before. During his first term as prime minister, Netanyahu pressed the issue as part of a 1998 interim deal with the Palestinians. President Bill Clinton rejected that request after fierce opposition from U.S. intelligence officials.
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