Official: Deal emerges on extension of Mideast talks to include more prisoner release, Pollard

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaves Tel Aviv, Israel Tuesday April 1, 2014, continuing on to NATO meetings in Brussels after meeting in Israel with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Middle East peace process talks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool) (The Associated Press)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Monday, March 31, 2014, for a previously unannounced stop in Israel to continue working on talks about the Middle East peace process. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool) (The Associated Press)

JERUSALEM – An official close to the Mideast peace talks says a deal is emerging to extend the troubled negotiations. It includes the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners.

The official says the deal would extend the talks into 2015. He says it doesn't include a freeze on West Bank settlement construction but that Israel would show "great restraint."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the deal with the media.

He says that under the deal, Pollard's release would take place by mid-month.

The U.S. has been negotiating with Israel and the Palestinians to extend talks past a late-April deadline. The months-long negotiations hit a snag when a planned prisoner release did not take place as scheduled.