Huge concessions were made under the table by the Palestinians in Israel. This was revealed by the Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, in collaboration with the British newspaper The Guardian, in possession of over 1,600 secret documents. The so-called 'Palestinian Papers' recount in detail the progress, and the many setbacks, made in the negotiations for the peace process in the Middle East.Thousands of memos, emails, maps, transcripts of private meetings and strategic agreements occurred between 1999 and 2010. Among the most sensational revelations, the documents are evidence of how the PNA (Palestinian National Authority) has secretly endorsed the Israeli occupation of almost all the Palestinian territories in East Jerusalem, apparently without asking anything in return.
"We brought to Israel to annex all of Jerusalem except the terrors of Jabal Abu Ghneim," he said Ahmed Qureia, former Prime Minister of the PNA, in a trilateral meeting in June 2008 that was attended by the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, former U.S.
secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. At the same time, Erekat made a list of disputed territories that the Palestinian authorities were willing to offer: French Hill, Ramat Shlomo, Talpiot, Gilo and elsewhere, including the district jew in the Old City of Jerusalem (all areas with mixed population and jurisdiction that Israel has effectively annexed illegally).
Many of these areas have great religious significance, such as in the Haram al-Sharif and Temple Mount, the Temple Mount, the historic center of Jerusalem (one of the most important places in the world for Christians, Muslims and Jews). In 2000, peace negotiations reached a deadlock on the issue of its holy sites, after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat refused to grant the sovereignty of the area mosques.
In the occupied territories, Israel has moved many families over the years: building new settlements and occupying the houses of Palestinians expelled or fled. In a meeting in January 2010 with David Hale, who worked with Barack Obama, Erekat said: "These documents grant Israel the largest in the history of Jerusalem, the return of many refugees, a demilitarized state.
What can I give? ". In addition to the unconditional granting of the territories inhabited by Palestinians, the dossier revealing how the leaders of the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, negotiated in secret to barter one of the hottest areas of conflict, Sheikh Jarrah, in exchange for land elsewhere .
"For an area in Sheikh Jarrah, I want to receive an equivalent area," he said Qureia at a confidential meeting with Tal Becker, Israeli negotiator, in June two years ago. The offers of the Palestinian negotiators were deemed inadequate from Tel Aviv, also thanks the support of the United States, rejected the agreement.
But the suspicion remains that the leaders were willing to large concessions are not shared by their people. Much of the public believes it impossible to abandon or barter of key areas of the holy city hoping to become the capital of a future Palestinian state. The annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel, which began in 1967, has never been recognized by the UN, despite Israel considers part of its de facto state.
"Building in Jerusalem is like building in Tel Aviv," he often repeated Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli settlements in the East have in fact diffuse rapidly over the years and continue despite the recent call for Obama to stop them. Only last week the Israeli authorities have begun the construction of 1,400 new homes in the area of Gilo.
Now Palestine Papers might provide new explanations on the massive and undisputed occupation of these territories. And seriously jeopardize the trust of the Palestinian people toward their leaders, considered by many corrupt and incapable of any real progress in peace negotiations. Hamas, which opposes negotiations with Israel, holding power in the Gaza Strip, today accused the PLO of betraying the interests of the Palestinians.
"Their leadership is not honest - he said a representative for Al-Jazeera -. They have no credibility to negotiate on behalf of the people, and it is clear from these documents that no longer has the permission of their people. "David Ghilotti
No comments:
Post a Comment