If, eventually, the “fourth round” of terrorist prisoner releases takes place, the list of those to be released is set to include ten arch-terrorists whose families live in Judea and Samaria – and they are deemed to be too dangerous to be allowed to return to their homes by Shabak security agency chief Yoram Cohen.

A report on Channel Two said that the ten are part of the 26 terrorists set to be released in the deal. Cohen, who will be asked to present his official viewpoint in the event that the terrorist prisoner release comes up for a Cabinet vote, intends to urge ministers to condition the release of these terrorists on their being sent to Gaza, or to an Arab country, and not allow them to return to Judea and Samaria.

In recent statements, Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas has said that he will not accept a deal in which terrorists are not allowed to return to the villages they lived in before their arrest.

Israel last summer agreed to release 104 terrorist prisoners as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority and a precondition for resumption of the peace talks being shephereded by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. So far, 78 have been released. The final batch had been due for release on Friday, March 28, but the government cancelled that release after Abbas placed a bid for the PA to be recognized as a state in 15 United Nations agencies, in breach of conditions of the talks.

The fourth batch of terrorist releases has sparked considerable controversy, as MKs point out that the previous releases have done nothing to further talks, and that several of the released terrorists have contributed to the increase in terror attacks over the past year.