Replies to post #124799 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Erekat's solution for the Haram

The PA's chief negotiator suggested unprecedented compromises on the division of Jerusalem and its holy sites.

Clayton Swisher 23 Jan 2011 14:39 GMT


Erekat proposed a "creative" solution for the Haram al-Sharif in a private meeting with US envoy George Mitchell.

Saeb Erekat, the chief negotiator of the Palestinian Authority (PA), had suggested unprecedented compromises on the division of Jerusalem and its holy sites, the Palestine Papers obtained by Al Jazeera show.

Minutes of negotiations at the US State Department in Washington DC indicate that Erekat was willing to concede control over the Haram al-Sharif, or Temple Mount, to the oversight of an international committee.

The highly controversial issue of who controls the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), home of the Al Aqsa mosque - Islam’s third holiest site - has been a major sticking point during decades of negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians.

Israel calls the Haram al-Sharif the “Temple Mount” because Jews believe it was the site of the Second Temple destroyed during Roman times. In recent years, Jewish settler groups – some with close ties to the Israeli government – have advocated building a “Third Temple", which would necessitate the destruction of the existing Muslim holy sites.

The site has often been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On October 8, 1990, Israeli forces shot dead 21 Palestinian civilians at the Haram al-Sharif. The Palestinians, whom Israel said were throwing stones at Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall below the Haram, were protesting plans by a settler group called the Temple Mount Faithful to lay a cornerstone for the Third Temple.

Palestinians have accused Israel of trying to undermine the foundations of the al-Aqsa mosque through what Israel describes as archaeological excavations. In September 1996, Israel opened what it called a tourist tunnel along the foundations of the Haram, touching off violence that left dozens of people dead – the vast majority of them Palestinians.

In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, the then-Israeli opposition leader, visited the Haram al-Sharif accompanied by hundreds of armed Israeli police. Palestinian protests at what was seen as a provocation, and Israel’s armed response to them, marked the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifada.

"There are creative ways"

In a meeting on October 21, 2009 with George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, David Hale, Mitchell’s deputy, and Jonathan Schwartz, the then-US State Department legal adviser, Erekat told the Americans that they would need a “creative” solution for the division of the Old City.

Erekat: “It’s solved. You have the Clinton Parameters formula. For the Old City sovereignty for Palestine, except the Jewish quarter and part of the Armenian quarter … the Haram can be left to be discussed - there are creative ways, having a body or a committee, having undertakings for example not to dig [excavations under the Al Aqsa mosque]. The only thing I cannot do is convert to Zionism.”

Schwartz: To confirm to Sen. Mitchell, [this is] your private idea …

Erekat: This conversation is in my private capacity.

Schwartz: We’ve heard the idea from others. So you’re not the first to raise it.

Erekat: Others are not the chief negotiator of the PLO.

This was a surprising statement from Erekat: The status of the Haram al-Sharif has rarely been discussed during negotiations.

The 2000 Camp David talks marked the first time leaders from both sides bargained directly over the status of occupied East Jerusalem and its holy sites.

International law and the 1967 borders clearly show that the Haram al-Sharif is within the occupied Palestinian territories. Thus the discussion– between Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian president Yasser Arafat – proved highly controversial. Many participants in the talks say that their failure to resolve the status of the Old City's holy sites proved the ultimate deal-killer.

Arafat's stance

Bill Clinton, the then-US president advanced various proposals for dividing or sharing sovereignty, but Arafat proudly defended the unwillingness of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) to compromise on the Haram al-Sharif’s sovereignty. It was a principled position that earned him scorn among Israelis and Americans, but universal support at home and throughout the broader Islamic world.

The status of the Haram al-Sharif was also seldom raised in more than 280 bilateral meetings during the Annapolis process (November 2007-December 2008). The main reason for this was domestic Israeli politics: Then-prime minister Ehud Olmert’s coalition partners demanded that the status of Jerusalem’s holy sites remained unresolved; the religious right-wing Shas party threatened to leave the government if the issue was even discussed.

Thus the Israeli delegation was not allowed to speak about it, as reiterated to the PA in a July 2, 2008 meeting by Udi Dekel, Olmert’s top negotiator:

“Why does your side keep mentioning Jerusalem in every meeting - isn’t there an understanding on this between the leaders?” Dekel asked Erekat.

The Israelis, in other words, freely admitted that they could not entertain any bargain on Jerusalem.

Yet the PA went ahead and presented its ideas - regardless of the tactical consequences.

During a May 29, 2008 post-Annapolis meeting in Jerusalem, Dekel told PA officials that the parameters of the peace talks had shifted. [ http://transparency.aljazeera.net/document/2681 ]

“Since 2000, something happened in those 8 years so we are not at the same starting point. You started a terror war on us and we created facts on the ground. This is the reality that we live in today, so we can’t go back to Camp David. Circumstances changed considerably since then. Facts have changed. So we can’t freeze time and consider that we are in 2000 reality. The Middle East has changed,” Dekel told Samih al-Abid, a PLO map expert.

A month later, on June 30, 2008, in a meeting with Tzipi Livni, the then-foreign minister, Ahmed Qurei, the former PA prime minister, tried to persuade the Israelis to roll back their stance on the starting point of the negotiations. [ http://transparency.aljazeera.net/document/2826 ]

Qurei: “Jerusalem is part of the territory occupied in 67. We can discuss and agree on many issues relating to Jerusalem: religious places, infrastructure, municipal function, economic issues, security, settlements. However, the municipal borders for us are 67. This is the basis, and this is where we can start.

[Silence]

Livni: Houston, we have a problem.

Qurei: Silence is agreement …

Erekat: It is no secret that on our map we proposed we are offering you the biggest Yerushalayim in history. But we must talk about the concept of Al-Quds [Jerusalem].

Livni: Do you have a concept?

Erekat: Yes. We have a detailed concept – but we will only discuss with a partner. And it’s doable.

Livni: No, I can’t.

By the end of the Annapolis negotiations, the PA appeared to believe that some internationalising of the Haram al-Sharif would be required. In an offer conveyed orally to [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas on August 31, 2008, Olmert suggested that the US, along with Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, should take membership on a committee to determine the fate of the Haram al-Sharif.

The committee would not have had the ability to force either Israel or the weaker Palestinian party to accept an agreement.

Erekat seemed willing to claim that such an arrangement would be acceptable, even though the US has no historic standing on the issue of holy sites and considers itself Israel’s closest ally. The other Arab participants would each have brought their own baggage, in particular the Saudis, who viewed resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict as a core concern.

At the end of the Annapolis negotiations, on December 2, 2008 - just weeks before the Gaza war - Erekat said to David Welch, the US Assistant Secretary of State, that: “Saudi’s main concern is Jerusalem - not swaps and neighbourhoods”.

“To them Jerusalem is the Haram,” Erekat added.

There are TWO videos in here - non transferable

http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/2011/01/2011122114545946119.html

[StephanieVanbryce]

PA negotiators reject leaked report

The Palestinian chief negotiator labels leaked documents as "pack of lies".


Mahmoud Abbas says he keeps the Arab League updated on all details of the negotiations with Israel [EPA]

24 Jan 2011 01:06 GMT

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has dismissed the documents released by Al Jazeera that show private offers by PA officials to Israelis on contested issues than previously revealed as "a bunch of lies".

In an appearance on Al Jazeera shortly after the documents were released on Sunday, Erakat said the Palestinian leadership had "nothing to hide" and dismissed most of the report as lies.

He said that the information shown contained mistakes and inaccuracies and that his words were taken out of context and he was misquoted.

"I have always said that east Jerusalem is part of Palestine.

"No body has given up anything, I have shown Jerusalem Map on Al Jazeera a year ago. The land exchange principle was discussed before," Erakat said.

He said that all documents were shared in advance with the Arab league and several Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar.

"We have not gone back on our position. If we had given ground on the refugees and made such concessions, why hasn't Israel agreed to sign a peace accord?" he asked.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, told Egyptian newspapers editors in Cairo that he kept the Arab League updated on all details of the negotiations with Israel, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

"I don't know from where al Jazeera came with secret things.

"There is nothing we hide from our brothers, the Arabs," Abbas said.

The chief Palestinian negotiator in the 2008 talks, Ahmed Qureia, told The Associated Press that "many parts of the documents were fabricated, as part of the incitement against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian leadership."

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas offcial in Gaza told Al Jazeera that the Palestinian authority officials should be ashamed of themselves.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011123234940952149.html

Of course You REJECT it! ..we would expect nothing LESS from you.

[StephanieVanbryce]

The "napkin map" revealed

The Palestine Papers include a rendering of the Israeli land swap map presented in mid-2008 to Mahmoud Abbas.



The Palestinian Authority proposed an unprecedented land swap to the Israeli government, offering to annex virtually all of the illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem.

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.

The Israeli offer is documented in a Palestinian rendition of what’s colloquially called “the napkin map,” a rendering of which is revealed for the first time in The Palestine Papers. [ http://transparency.aljazeera.net/document/4736 ]

There is more to this - BUT IF you go to the link, be sure to click on the MAPS..to me, well, I really have no words
http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/2011/01/2011122114239940577.html

[StephanieVanbryce]

3.47pm: This video appears to show protesters breaking into al-Jazeera's offices in Ramallah today. Whoever took the film managed to get away from some protesters trying to stop the incident being filmed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FFkhiMOcVs

mmmm ..looks like Fatah is UPSET
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jan/24/palestine-papers-live-updates?intcmp=239#block-42

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/jan/24/palestine-papers-live-updates?intcmp=239#block-42

[StephanieVanbryce]

Erekat quits over Palestine Papers

Chief Palestinian negotiator resigns, saying source of Al Jazeera's revelations was in his own office.


PA officials were angered by the Palestine Papers, which exposed concessions to Israel in secret peace talks [EPA]

12 Feb 2011 18:01 GMT

Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's chief negotiator, has resigned from his post, after it emerged that the source of the Palestine Papers leak was in his own office.

The decision was announced on Saturday, at the same time as a Palestinian Authority (PA) official announced that the body would be holding presidential and legislative elections before September this year.

Erekat said his resignation came as a result of an internal investigation into the Palestine Papers, a set of leaked documents that was released by Al Jazeera. [ http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/ ]

Erekat, who has retained his position in the PLO's executive committee, said the investigation showed that the papers were leaked from the Negotiations Support Unit, which he heads.

Earlier, he had said he would bear all responsibility if any security breach was found in his office.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, welcomed the resignation, saying that negotiations led by Erekat had not been "in the national interest".

Al Jazeera's Cal Perry in Ramallah said that there was a feeling among Palestinians that the peace process was at an impasse.

"There is clearly a feeling here on the ground that the peace process has broken down, that there is no more point in negotiating unless the Israelis are willing to bring more to the table," he said.

On the matter of Erekat's successor, he said that his sources were saying "there's no point. Why would we have a chief negotiator if there are no negotiations?"

Elections called

The news of Erekat's resignation almost overshadowed the PA's election announcement.

"The Palestinian leadership decided to hold presidential and legislative elections before September," Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president, said.

Rabbo said the PA was urging all sides to "put their differences aside", in a reference to the West Bank-based government's rival Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has rejected the call for elections.

"They cannot do an election in the West Bank, leaving Gaza. Without internal Palestinian reconciliation, nothing can happen here or there. The people who are supporting Hamas in the West Bank are representing the majority of the Palestinian people, and they will not participate," Hamas' Zahar told Al Jazeera.

"Hamas will not take part in this election. We will not give it legitimacy. And we will not recognise the results," Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, told the Reuters news agency.

He termed the process "invalid", saying that Abbas had "no legitimacy and is not fit to organise such elections.

Members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee said they saw the elections as an opportunity to end divisions.

Bassam Salhi, a member of the Palestinian People's Party, said that whoever gains a majority after the elections will be empowered to make decisions on unresolved issues, including security.

Al Jazeera's Perry said there was "hope [that] by September they can mend those bridges and go forward with the elections".

He added, however, that even local elections that were due to be held on July 9th were currently shrouded in uncertainty, as Hamas does not believe that those polls will be free and fair.

Erekat's 'responsibility'

Announcing his resignation on Saturday, Erekat said that he was assuming "responsibility for the theft of [the] documents from his office", which he claimed had been "deliberately" tampered with.

Last month, Erekat accused Al Jazeera of taking part in a campaign to overthrow the PA after more than 1,600 confidential files on the negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli officials were made public by the network.

The documents, shared by Al Jazeera with the UK's Guardian newspaper, exposed concessions to Israel in 10 years of secret peace talks, embarrassing and angering the PA leadership.

At the time, Erekat accused Al Jazeera of attempting to discredit the peace process and provoke people into "a revolution against their leaders in order to bring down the Palestinian political system".

He insisted that the PA's position on Jerusalem, refugees and borders during peace negotiations were based on internationally recognised principles.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011212135152355248.html