TEMPORARY?

Israel Plans Public Appeal to Ask U.S. to Free a Spy (ISABEL KERSHNER, 12/21/10, NY Times)

Mr. Netanyahu has tried in the past to trade Mr. Pollard for pliancy in Middle East peace negotiations, in the hope that the release of the spy would appease conservatives in the Israeli government. Mr. Netanyahu made Mr. Pollard’s case a bargaining point with the Palestinians at the Wye Plantation talks in 1998.

Most recently, in September, Israeli officials tried to float a deal in which they would extend a temporary moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank, a Palestinian condition for negotiations, in exchange for the release of Mr. Pollard.

In Washington, Obama administration officials indicated that Mr. Pollard’s release was unlikely.

For one thing, the Central Intelligence Agency has fought his release for years; the agency views him as a spy who deserves his life sentence, arguing the release of Mr. Pollard would send a bad message about how the United States viewed people who traded in American secrets.

Beyond that, Mr. Netanyahu, who has consistently resisted attempts by the Obama administration to extend a settlement freeze to aid peace talks with the Palestinians, is not exactly in good favor with the Obama administration right now.

White House officials said Tuesday that they had not received Israel’s official request yet. But the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, indicated that when the request did come, the answer would be no. “I am not aware that that’s something that the president is looking at doing,” he said.

Trade him for a withdrawal from the West Bank.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 23, 2010 6:29 AM