The Palestinians now have their own version of a WikiLeaks scandal.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his aides went on the attack on Monday, accusing al-Jazeera TV of lies and distortions in publishing the so-called “Palestine Papers,” which claim that Palestinian negotiators were ready to make significant concessions for a peace deal with Israel.
Despite the angry denials, the hunt was on for the leaker.
The new documents indicate 2008 talks made progress on dividing Jerusalem — and the resulting backlash suggests the Palestinian public has not been prepared by their leaders for the far-reaching concessions deemed necessary for a peace agreement.
Al-Jazeera said it obtained hundreds of transcripts and notes from a decade of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It began releasing them in a Sunday broadcast, the first of four prime-time shows on the documents this week.
On Monday, an angry crowd of about 250 Palestinians gathered outside the West Bank’s main al-Jazeera office, with some smashing the station’s logo and glass panels in the front door.
In the search for the leak, suspicion fell on low-level employees from a support office for Palestinian negotiators. Palestinian intelligence searched computer files in the office on Monday, but it was not clear if any arrests were made.
Abbas dismissed the broadcasts as “shameful.” Members of his inner circle accused al-Jazeera of distorting reality, and said the station and its sponsors in the Qatari government were trying to discredit the Western-backed Palestinian leadership. They suggested the station was promoting the agenda of the Islamic militant Hamas, which opposes negotiations with Israel.
The Palestinian leader’s detractors say Abbas has been misleading the Palestinian public about the extent of the concessions he is willing to make in exchange for an elusive deal with Israel.
The uproar could further weaken Abbas and boost Hamas, with some analysts predicting the nightly revelations may cause serious damage to Abbas’ standing.
Al-Jazeera, citing from the transcripts, said Palestinian leaders agreed to an Israeli annexation of large areas of war-won east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ would-be capital, and that they were willing to consider a resettlement of only a nominal number of refugees.
The report is bound to inflame Palestinian public opinion, said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“Palestinian opinion is still quite adamant about Palestinian rights,” she said. Palestinians “are not willing to entertain, if this is true, any of the compromises that were revealed in the documents.”
The documents focused on talks with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, and indicate the outlines of a possible deal were discussed — confirming previous, less detailed accounts provided by Olmert and Abbas.
In Monday’s broadcast, al-Jazeera quoted Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Abbas discussing refugee figures.
“On numbers of refugees, it is illogical to ask Israel to take 5 million [the total estimated number of refugees], or indeed 1 million — that would mean the end of Israel,” Abbas was quoted as saying at a meeting on March 24, 2009.
However, Abbas rejected Olmert’s offer of 5,000 refugees as “not acceptable.” Yet during a June 16 meeting that same year, Erakat said Olmert “accepted 1,000 refugees annually for the next 10 years,” for a total of 10,000.
According to the Guardian newspaper, with which al-Jazeera is “exclusively sharing” the 1,600 files, Palestinian officials accepted the 10,000 figure set by Israel.
The Palestinians have traditionally demanded a “right of return” for all refugees from the 1948-1949 war that followed Israel’s creation, as well as their descendants.
Israel says a mass resettlement is out of the question.
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