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Files show firmer Palestinian line on talks in 2010

Palestinians protest over Al-Jazeera leaks
Hebron, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Jan 28, 2011 - Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets on Friday to vent their anger over secret peace talks documents published by satellite television station Al-Jazeera. Across the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, supporters of the militant Islamic group marched in protest at concessions that Qatar-based Al-Jazeera said were made to Israel by the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. In the West Bank, where Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and his Western-backed administration holds sway, supporters carried his picture and burned effigies of Al-Jazeera staff and Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. In Hebron, witnesses said at least 3,000 people, many carrying Palestinian flags and the banner of Abbas's Fatah movement, chanted slogans against Al-Jazeera at a rally where officials lashed out at the station.

"We say to Al-Jazeera that it is we who decide who our leader is and what is our destiny, not your lies," Fatah official Mohammed Hroub told the crowd. "The Palestinian people have been through a lot of conspiracy theories but didn't fall for them," Hebron governor Kamel Abu Hamid said. "It will not fall for this one." The news channel has been under attack since Sunday, when it began releasing the first of 1,600 files detailing more than a decade of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The files allege that Palestinian negotiators offered unprecedented concessions during negotiations, including on the sensitive subjects of Jerusalem and refugees.

They also show members of Palestinian Authority closely cooperating with Israel in the fight against Hamas, Fatah's bitter rival. In Ramallah, where Abbas has his headquarters, about 100 of his supporters demonstrated on Friday. Police were deployed outside the television channel's office in the city, where a large poster of Abbas had been put up, emblazoned with a caption reading: "Damn Al-Jazeera and those behind it." Abbas attended public prayers at the city's Abd-El-Nasser mosque but made no comment about the leaks. In the Gaza Strip, worshippers leaving Muslim noon prayers joined Hamas-organised rallies against Abbas in several towns, burning pictures of him and his peace negotiators.

"We in Hamas and the resistance factions who are with us reject any concession on any of our principles and we do not permit anyone to waive any of our rights," Hamas official Khalil Al-Haya told a rally in the Jabaliya refugee camp. In Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, Palestinian residents clashed with Israeli police in the flashpoint Silwan neighbourhood, although the reason was not immediately clear. Police said they had no report of Palestinian casualties. Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP an Israeli woman was "injured lightly" after Palestinians threw stones at her. "At the same time the police arrested four masked Palestinians after they were involved in the incident," he said.
by Staff Writers
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Jan 28, 2011
Position papers given to AFP show Palestinian negotiators took firmer stances on final status issues in June 2010 than those detailed in documents leaked by Al-Jazeera.

The papers, shown to AFP on Friday by a senior Palestinian official on condition of anonymity, purportedly contain the negotiating position the Palestinians laid out ahead of direct talks with Israel in September 2010.

They restate long-standing Palestinian positions on the sensitive issues of Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

They were presented as a form of rebuttal after criticism of Palestinian negotiators and president Mahmud Abbas, who appear in the hundreds of leaked papers offering unprecedented concessions on Jerusalem and the right of return.

"They are the original documents that were officially presented to Israel and the United States," said the official who showed the papers to AFP.

The documents do not appear among the 1,600 leaked by Al-Jazeera this week, which have roiled the Palestinian Authority and exacerbated Palestinian divisions.

The files released by Al-Jazeera contain minutes of discussions between Israel, the United States and Palestinians, in which Palestinian negotiators offered to cede large parts of east Jerusalem to the Jewish state and conceded that only limited numbers of Palestinian refugees would be able to return home.

The papers shown to AFP spell out a firmer line, which negotiators presented to the United States, Israel and Arab nations before starting talks with Israel in September 2010, the first between the two sides in almost two years.

They call on Israel to recognise the right of return for all Palestinians made refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948, and state that the Palestinians expect all of east Jerusalem to become their future capital.

"Israel's recognition of the right of return will pave the way to negotiating how that right will be implemented," one document read.

"Palestinian refugees must be allowed to choose how to implement their rights and normalise their status," it adds, proposing four options for refugees -- a return to Israel, resettlement in a future Palestinian state, integration in host nations, or resettlement in third countries.

The paper calls for "Israel's recognition of its role in the creation and perpetuation of the Palestinian refugee catastrophe."

It also seeks "full and complete" compensation for refugees if they do not receive "restitution" in the form of the return of lost land or homes.

"The recognition of the right of return and of the right to claim restitution and compensation will not... create any existential crisis for Israel," the document reads.

A separate document on Jerusalem states the negotiators' official position on the city, one of the most contentious core issues at stake in negotiations.

"Pursuant to our vision, east Jerusalem, as defined by its pre-1967 occupation municipal borders, shall be the capital of Palestine," the paper reads.

Both documents on Jerusalem and refugees also carry the same disclaimer" "This paper is for discussion purposes only, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."



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