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| By Israel Insider staff and partners April 16, 2005 |
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Israeli Ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon is expected to meet Jonathan Pollard in the near future -- the first time an official Israeli representative will meet with Pollard, who has been imprisoned for over 20 years after conviction for passing classified information to Israel. In order not to hurt its ties with the U.S., Israel has previously rejected requests by Pollard and his wife Esther to send an official envoy to the prison in which Pollard is kept.
Army Radio reported that Deputy Minister Orit Noked (Labor), who spoke with Ayalon on Friday night, said the visit represented the beginning of a concerted effort to obtain Pollard's release. Yediot Ahronot reported on Friday that the US administration might release Pollard as a sop to Israeli public opinion in light of US support for the planned expulsion of thousands of Israeli citizens from their homes in Gaza and Samaria this summer. The paper suggested that US President George W. Bush plans to pardon Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard , who has served over 20 years of a life sentence, as a "present" to Sharon.
Sharon's associates are apparently encouraging the rumor. Last Sunday evening, during a preparatory meeting to arrange his visit to the American presidential ranch in Texas, Sharon reportedly notified US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice that he plans to send Israel's ambassador in Washington to meet with Pollard. Rice did not respond to Sharon's decision, Yediot reported.
Those in the prime minister's circle suggest that a presidential pardon of Pollard could help mend societal rifts in Israel caused by unilateral disengagement from Gaza, Yediot reported.
If Pollard is indeed released, it will signal to the Israeli public, and especially disengagement opponents, strong American support for Sharon's historic move, the paper said.
Last month, the Knesset passed a resolution demanding that the government condition the release of Palestinian prisoners on the release of Pollard, calling on the government to demand that the US immediately release Pollard on humanitarian grounds due to his disproportionately long prison service and his declining health. MK Yitzhak Levy (NRP) noted that there was "one Jewish prisoner rotting in jail" and a "friendly superpower that is asking us to give mercy to terrorists here is not willing to give us the same mercy."
Levy called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to "show the same kind of courage" he has displayed on his plan to evacuate "Jews and settlements," and to "not release a single prisoner until Pollard is in Israel."
The Committee to Bring Jonathan Pollard Home dismissed reports about the proposed release: "We have no faith in these reports and ones like them, which we've seen countless times before. It said that "every time there's a deal that will threaten the unity of the country and the seat of the current prime minister, all of a sudden there's word about promises to release Jonathan in return for a deal."
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