AP 10/29/98:
"Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard
was so sure he would be released from an American prison as part of the Mideast peace agreement last week that he had packed his bags, The N.Y. Jewish Week reported.

"I was packing; I thought this was it," Pollard told The N.Y. Jewish Week for its Friday issue. "Everybody was coming around my room asking for books, clothes, deodorant, food. Everybody was claiming things. That's what happens in prisons."

...In addition to media reports speculating about his release, Pollard told the paper that he "heard through my own channels that I would be leaving Saturday night and going to Israel with the prime minister on his plane."

Pollard also heard he would be released quietly 20 days after the Wye River Memorandum was signed. He was told that his release was in return for Netanyahu dropping his demand for the arrest of Palestinian police chief Rhazi Jabali, who is wanted in Israel for allegedly organizing terrorist attacks.

Pollard said he was told he was not released because CIA officials had pressured President Clinton not to free him.

The U.S. government has denied there was any deal to release Pollard, though they acknowledge that the subject of his release was brought up.

President Clinton has said the administration would conduct an investigation into whether to grant Pollard clemency."

Cheshvan 6, 5759
ARUTZ7 10/26/98:

A solution for the release of Jonathan Pollard is not out of the question.

Observers noted that Prime Minister Netanyahu said yesterday that although Palestinian Police Chief Razi Jabali - who stood behind terrorist attacks against Israelis - will not be incarcerated by the PA, "we are still working on a solution."

Arutz-7 has learned that this may be connected with Pollard. The release of Pollard was originally suggested not as an 'add-on' to the withdrawal agreement, sources say, but as an integral part of the agreement: in exchange for Israel's willingness to drop the demand for Jabali's extradition, the U.S. would release Jonathan Pollard.

The Americans agreed, but U.S. President Clinton later reneged on the agreement.

Pollard's wife Esther, speaking with the Toronto Sun, said that Israel's inability to secure her husband's release shows that Israel can't trust the Americans to uphold crucial security measures in the Mideast accord.