Documents Show Palestinian Compromise in Peace Talks
(CBS) Calling it the "biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Middle East conflict," the Guardian reports that Palestinian negotiators agreed in secret to Israel's annexation of all settlements but one that had been built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem.
Al-Jazeera has the cache of documents and shared them with the Guardian. Among other revelations in the documents are the following:
- Israeli leaders asked that Arab citizens be "transferred to a new Palestinian state."
- There was cooperation, described as "covert" by the Guardian, between the Palestinian Authority and Israeli security forces.
- Palestinian leaders knew told about Israel's 2008-2009 Gaza war.
On Sunday Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said that many of the documents were fabricated in an effort to incite against the Palestinian leadership.
The Guardian goes on to report that perhaps the most controversial thing revealed in the leaked documents is a proposal for a joint committee to "take over the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City," which was a big part of the demise of the Camp David talks in 2000.
The offers were made sometime in 2008 and 2009, reports the Guardian, which also says the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat. Israeli leaders said the offers were inadequate, according to the Guardian.
Recently, peace talks have stalled. Israel refused to continue with a freeze of settlement construction, leading many to say that a two-state solution is no longer possible.