Palestine Affairs

NOVANEWS   Belatedly another Truthout essay on the Palestine Papers: Common wisdom is that the 20-year-old peace process has been edging towards a two-state solution, based on a formula that half the world can recite verbatim: borders following the pre-1967-war armistice line with minor and mutual adjustments, a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and a land bridge between Gaza and the West Bank, with refugees either repatriated or given adequate compensation. Common wisdom has frequently assumed that resolution has been prevented by Palestinian rejectionism, as the Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiators make one unreasonable demand after another to their Israeli counterparts, while American mediators helplessly try to cajole the two sides closer and closer to peace. With the publication...

NOVANEWS Puppet Palestinian Authority Security Services Stage their own Demonstration Against Al-Jazeera to Protest at the Leaking of 1,600 Documents on the 'Negotiations' with Israel No one is more afraid and upset by the revolution in Egypt than the Quisling Palestinian Authority and the Fateh/PLO leaders. After all, as the Palestine papers show, they were in cahoots with Mubarak to enforce the blockade of Gaza. Mubarak was their closest ally and as a tribute to him they decided to set up their own little police statelet in Ramallah. Now all that is cast into doubt. The Egyptian masses aren’t happy to have a repressive regime that dances to the United States tune. Who knows what might come next? Having chosen the road of collaboration there is nothing that the PA will not do to demonstra...

NOVANEWS     The Palestine papers published by Al-Jazeera in late January have been dubbed the Palestinian WikiLeaks. They include all the secret documents relating to the negotiations between the PLO, Israel and the US around setting up a Palestinian state. As in the case of WikiLeaks, their supposedly dramatic revelations come as no surprise to anybody who has been following the news over the years with a modicum of attention and objectivity. What the publication does achieve is to strip away the fig leaves that allowed the participants in the negotiations to present them in any kind of a positive light. Nobody is able to kid themselves or others any more. There never was a peace process – it was a process only for forcing a surrender of all of the Palestinians’ just deman...

NOVANEWS   Al-Shabaka Commentary Nadia Hijab The Egyptian people’s massive demonstrations against the Mubarak regime, following on from the Tunisian people’s successful despatch of their own dictator, took the limelight away from the Palestine Papers, Al-Jazeera’s 23-26 January 2011 release of over 1,600 confidential records of the “peace process” over the past decade. But for Palestinians the burning questions remain: how to assess the content of the documents and the meaning of their release — and how to deal with the revelations. Much of the analysis of the documents has focused on the concessions the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and the remnants of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have been willing to make to secure a deal in the face of Israel’s intransi...

NOVANEWS Gilad Atzmon I have a rule -- I never intervene in Palestinian political matters. I never comment on Palestinian internal debate. I do not think that I have the right to do so : I am an ex-Israeli and an ex-Jew, and I write about Israel, Jewish Identity politics, and Zionism.   For me, the leaked Palestinian Papers provide us with a valuable glimpse into Israeli politics and Western complicity in the crimes carried out against the Palestinian people.  I do realise that most Palestinian commentators agree that the leaked papers have “damaged whatever little credibility the Ramallah-based authority still enjoyed among Palestinians” ; yet, more than anything else, the Papers prove beyond doubt that Israel is  not a partner for peace -- In spite of the weaknesses that have ...

NOVANEWS   PA, with US encouragement, delayed a UN vote on the Goldstone Report into war crimes committed during Israel's Gaza war.   S. Farhan Mustafa   Last Modified: 26 Jan 2011   The Palestine Papers reveal the conversations between US and PA officials in the days before the vote [EPA] On October 2, 2009, the UN Human Rights Council was widely expected to pass a resolution supporting the Goldstone Report, the UN’s probe of war crimes committed during Israel’s war in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. The Council instead agreed to delay a vote on the report until March 2010, following major reservations expressed by the Palestinian Authority, the United States and Israel. A UNHRC endorsement of the report would have brought Israeli officials one step closer to prosec...

NOVANEWS PA negotiators are increasingly proposing an idea that's met with derision from Israelis, sharp criticism from the US. David Poort Last Modified: 26 Jan 2011   Erekat raised the one-state option during several 2009 meetings with US envoy George Mitchell [EPA] Palestinian negotiators are more frequently threatening to abandon the goal of a two-state solution in their conflict with Israel and are pushing for a one-state option instead. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is very well aware that a one-state solution constitutes a threat to Israel, and has used the threat during half a dozen meetings documented in The Palestine Papers. The two-state solution remains the conceptual basis for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. However, as it has failed to accomplish a final agre...

NOVANEWS PA is bluntly critical of many Arab states, particularly Egyptian efforts to broker a deal between Hamas and Fatah. Amira Howeidy Last Modified: 26 Jan 2011   Despite the support of the vast majority of Arab states to the Palestinian Authority, especially in its rivalry with Hamas, The Palestine Papers reveal many instances where the Palestinians are strongly critical of Arab governments. A lot of the denunciation is surprisingly directed at Egypt more so than Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Palestinians are also quoted objecting to Arab reconciliation efforts. In the minutes that were leaked to Al Jazeera, all the complaining of -even incitement against- the Arabs is voiced to the Americans. The highlight of this resentment was the fallout in the aftermath of the PA’...

NOVANEWS   Papers reveal PA held up Goldstone report from UN security council and suggest Abbas was warned of 2008 invasion. Seumas Milne and Ian Black guardian.co.uk, 26 January 2011   Footage from al-Jazeera on the leaked Palestine Papers describes how the US influenced Palestinian negotiators, as anger over the leaks grows in Hamas-contolled Gaza Link to this video Palestinian Authority leaders co-operated with US officials in a bid to postpone the reference of the Goldstone report into war crimes in Gaza to the UN security council, leaked papers reveal. The PA, who have denied they made the decision under US pressure, later reversed their decision. The postponement of the report into Israel's 2008 assault on Gaza triggered heavy criticism of the PA leadership, at one time threate...

NOVANEWS   Lead Palestinian negotiator in 2008 had close relationship with Yasser Arafat and was known for tolerance and charm Ian Black guardian.co.uk, 23 January 2011    Lead Palestinian negotiator in 2008, Ahmed Qureia often relieved the tensions in talks with light-hearted banter. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA Ahmed Qureia, better known as Abu Ala, was born in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, in 1937. He joined Yasser Arafat's Fatah group in 1968 and followed him from Beirut and Damascus to exile in Tunis in 1984, where he headed the Palestine Liberation Organisation's economic department. Arafat sent the trained banker to Washington to serve on the steering committee that advised the official Palestinian negotiators in the 1992 talks. Qu reia also served as chief negotiator for the secr...