Sunday, January 23, 2011

AP: "Leaked documents show Palestinian Jerusalem offer"

I see a Kos diary in my crystal ball, and its title is "The Myth of Palestinian Intransigence." The first two sentences, which somehow require a paragraph break between them, convey the essence of this little development:
Palestinians were prepared to compromise over two of the toughest issues, Jerusalem and refugees, during peace talks in 2008, the Al-Jazeera TV channel reported Sunday, quoting from documents it said came from the talks.

Palestinian negotiators quickly denied the reports, saying parts of the documents were fabricated. [...]
According to Ahmed Qureia, we learn, the fabrications are "part of the incitement against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian leadership." That would do it, I guess.

The Jerusalem Post title for this story is "PA: Al-Jazeera has declared war on Palestinians." How is the PA going to respond?
Asked if the PA was now considering measures against Al-Jazeera, the official said he did not see how a TV station that "incites" against the Palestinians would be able to continue operating in the West Bank. However, he said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently in Cairo, would decided on the PA's response to the exposure of the documents in the coming hours.
I wonder what this all means. The Palestinian position has hardened in the meantime? Palestinians tell the truth to Israelis and lie to other Arabs? Some well-meaning leftist thought he was being helpful and bent the truth a bit? This should prove interesting.

Update: The original Al-Jazeera article is worth quoting. Bad Israel!
Not only did the Israeli government offer no concessions in return, but – as The Palestine Papers now reveal – it responded with an even more aggressive land swap: Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert wanted to annex more than 10% of the West Bank (including the major settlements in Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel and elsewhere), in exchange for sparsely-populated farmland along the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

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