Palestinian negotiators deny Al-Jazeera report on Mideast peace compromise
By ANIMonday, January 24, 2011
JERUSALEM - Palestinian negotiators have denied an Al-Jazeera TV report that claimed that the Palestinians were prepared to compromise over two of the toughest issues, Jerusalem and refugees, during peace talks in 2008, and claimed that parts of those documents were fabricated.
The leaked documents said the Palestinians had offered to let Israel keep all but one of the Jewish enclaves it built in East Jerusalem after capturing it during the 1967 Middle East War.
The New York Times quoted the them Chief Palestinian negotiator in the 2008 talks, Ahmed Qureia, as saying that: “Many parts of the documents were fabricated, as part of the incitement against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian leadership.”
Qureia further denied making an offer about the Jewish enclaves in East Jerusalem, claiming that Israel had refused to discuss the issue.
Qureia has been backed by current chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who has called the reports as “lies and half truths.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has kept other Arab countries updated on the negotiations with Israel.
“I don’t know from where Al-Jazeera came with secret things. There is nothing we hide from our brothers, the Arabs,” he added.
Almost 1,600 confidential papers had claimed that Palestinian negotiators had offered confidential concessions, including on the highly sensitive issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
The documents also detailed how Israeli leaders had privately asked for some Arab citizens to be transferred to a new Palestinian state, and the intimate level of co-operation between Israeli security forces and the Palestinian Authority.
They further discussed about the crucial role played by British intelligence in drawing up a secret plan to crush Hamas in the Palestinian territories, and also about how Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders were privately tipped off about Israel’s 2008-9 war in Gaza, the paper said.
The confidential paper also show PLO leaders privately suggested swapping part of the East Jerusalem Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah for land elsewhere, and proposed a joint committee to take over the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City. (ANI)
