Israel says it won’t release Palestinian prisoners

By Ian Deitch

Published April 3, 2014 7:03pm ET

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Israel says it won’t release Palestinian prisoners — FILE - In this Tuesday April 1, 2014 photo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, jointed by Palestinian chief peace negotiator Saeb Erekat, signs an application to the U.N. agencies in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Palestinians are not walking away from U.S.-led efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, a top Palestinian official said Wednesday, a day after their renewed bid for international recognition of a "state of Palestine" threw Washington's already troubled Mideast mission into further disarray. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File) | Majdi Mohammed

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Thursday abruptly called off a release of Palestinian prisoners, sending U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s troubled Mideast peace efforts further into a tailspin.

The Israeli announcement, made in reaction to a renewed Palestinian push for membership in United Nations agencies, deepened the crisis in U.S.-led peace talks and made Kerry’s goal of extending negotiations past a late-April dateline a more distant possibility.

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Israel Middle East Palestinians World