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Home , Ahmed Qurei, Palestine Papers, Saeb Erekat

COUNTRY REPORT Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES Back to square one? FELIX DANE JÖRG KNOCHA THE PUBLICATION OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS BY AL-JAZEERA AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS February 2011

www.kas.de/ The publication of documents related proposals regarding , set- www.kas.de to the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks tlements and refugees. from 1999 until 2010 by the satellite channel al-Jazeera in January 1. Settlements : Concerning the ques- 2011 seems like a PR disaster for the tion of Jerusalem, the Palestinian ne- entire Palestinian leadership. The ene- gotiators – namely (Abu mies of peace, especially the Islamist Ala) and – offered their movement , see the opportu- Israeli counterparts to give up nearly nity to improve their standing. But are all Jewish settlements in occupied these publications really a catastrophe . One exception was or rather similar to the WikiLeaks (Jabal Abu Ghneim in Ara- documents about secret American dip- bic), a settlement that was con- lomatic cables: No groundbreaking structed after the . The new insights, but more of polemic- fact that would never give up enhanced evidence of what everyone settlements such as Pisgat, Ze´ev, had suspected anyway? Neve Ya´akov, Ramat Shlomo or Gilo was manifest to and in- On January 23, after al-Jazeera had ternational observers alike. This announced to unveil exclusive mate- shows the pragmatism of the Palestin- rial later that day, most Palestinians ian approach. It was in no way a sell did not expect the release of confiden- out of the Palestinian cause, as it was tial documents about Middle East described by al-Jazeera. It did show, peace talks. Over 1600 papers, rang- however, the explicit Palestinian de- ing from September 1999 until Sep- mand for the removal of those settle- tember 2010 and covering hundreds ments that reach deep into the West of meetings between Palestinians, Is- Bank. In addition, the documents raelis and Americans, have found their clearly verify, that the Palestinians in- way to the Gulf state of , where sist on a 1:1 ratio for any land swap, the headquarters of al-Jazeera is lo- meaning in exchange for settlements cated. The British newspaper Guard- east of the so-called “Green Line”, the ian also published the documents. It Palestinians would receive equal described the material as “biggest amounts of Israeli land. This idea was leak of confidential documents in the already discussed during the Annapo- history of the Middle East conflict.” lis Process 2007/08. Palestinian Presi- dent offered then Is- What the documents say raeli Prime Minister a land swap that included roughly two The so-called “” show percent of the . There is no fundamentally new concessions also nothing insincere in Saeb Erekat’s from the Palestinian side. Those who proposal to give the the “big- are following the peace process gest Yerushalayim in Jewish history”, closely already know the Palestinian using the Hebrew name for Jerusalem.

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Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. 2. Old City of Jerusalem : The issue of years. Compared to the numbers of the holy sites within the Old City was the Olmert plan this sounds rather PALESTINIAN one of the topics that then Prime Min- modest but then again anything more TERRITORIES ister of Israel and former than a symbolic number was never FELIX DANE Palestinian President Yassir Arafat realistic. This again demonstrates the JÖRG KNOCHA could not resolve in 2000. How a pos- willingness of the Palestinian side, sible solution could look like was out- which had to negotiate with a state February 2011 lined only months later in the so- that is considered a military and po- called Clinton-Parameters of then US litically heavy weight. President Bill Clinton: What is Arab should be Palestinian and what is Jew- 4. Security cooperation with Israel : www.kas.de/ramallah ish should be Israeli. The offer from The WikiLeaks publication of classified www.kas.de Saeb Erekat was only a repetition of US State Department documents al- the very same goal. The Muslim, ready mentioned the close partnership Christian and also parts of the Arme- between Israeli and Palestinian secu- nian quarter of the Old City would fall rity services. Only days before Hamas under Palestinian sovereignty, the took control of the in June Jewish and rest of the Armenian quar- 2007, President Abbas asked Israel ter under Israeli. Regarding the Mus- for help. , the chief of the lim Dome of the Rock, which is next Israeli internal intelligence agency, to the Jewish prayer site at the West- was quoted that the Palestinians ern Wall, Erekat proposed a “creative” shared nearly all of their security in- solution. formation with Israel. The documents show that on the eve of the 3. Palestinian refugees : The fate of 2008/09 Israel tried to convince the the Palestinian refugees is one of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cooper- most emotionally charged issues. Dur- ate with them. This implies that the ing the first Arab-Israeli War 1947– Palestinian leadership knew about the 49, hundreds of thousands of Arabs coming war which left 13 Israelis and left their home – either fleeing or be- as many as 1400 Palestinians dead. ing expelled. Until today the number The Palestine Papers contain nothing of refugees and their descendants new about the Israeli-Palestinian se- rose to several millions. Hundreds of curity cooperation. There was only thousands live in refugee camps one specific example that stirred me- throughout the region, while others dia attention: The case of Hassan al- are living in countries around the Madhoun, who was killed by Israeli world. It is perfectly clear to the Pal- forces. He was suspected of cooperat- estinian government that resettling ing with Hamas and preparing attacks millions of Palestinians to Israel is im- against Israel. Even though he was a possible because the state would member of the splinter group loose its Jewish character. No Israeli al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Israel government will ever agree to that. asked the Fatah to assassinate al- The leaked documents show that the Madhoun. But the Palestinians did not Palestinian negotiators are willing to see themselves up to the task be- accept a smaller, symbolic number. cause the “environment is not easy”, The documents intended that Erekat which why Israel took over. But the could agree to Olmert’s plan to allow Palestine Papers do not offer any evi- the return of ten thousand refugees dence of an extensive collaboration over a period of 10 years. After the with Israel. They only show that the publication he strongly denied any Fatah has a genuine interest to such intention. Until now, the official weaken an enemy which has repeat- position of the Palestinian Liberation edly shown that it has no hesitation to Organisation is the return of at least a use violence against a political rival. hundred thousand refugees over 10

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Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. The Palestinian reaction cessions. The alternative would be a debate between all relevant political, PALESTINIAN The reaction of the political leadership social and media protagonists about TERRITORIES towards the publication was clear. The the results of past negotiations. Which FELIX DANE top leaders of the PA gathered behind demands are non-negotiable and JÖRG KNOCHA President Abbas to show their sup- where are concessions possible? As port. During the weekly cabinet meet- long as this discourse is not imple- February 2011 ing on January 25, the government of mented thoroughly, the discrepancy condemned the “cam- between a public declarations and pri- paign of incitement and deception vate concessions will prevent any suc- which the Aljazeera Channel has cess in future negotiations. www.kas.de/ramallah launched against the Palestinian Na- www.kas.de tional Authority.” The Cabinet also re- affirmed their “determination to end Israeli occupation of all 1967 occupied land, the establishment of an inde- pendent Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital, the resolution of the Refugees issue based on UN Resolution 194, and the release of all prisoners.” This Resolution dates back to 1948 and, arguably, calls for a re- turn of all refugees “at the earliest practicable date.” The reaction of the population was similar. After his re- turn from a travel abroad Abbas was welcomed enthusiastically by more than 3000 supporters. He accused al- Jazeera of forging the documents and reiterated the official Palestinian posi- tion regarding negotiations with Is- rael. Many Fatah supporters argued that this is just the latest chapter of Qatar’s efforts to undermine the PA. It is widely known that Qatar has excel- lent connections to Hamas and has been accused to support them finan- cially. The question remains if Hamas can exploit the current situation to gain influence in the West Bank. Lead- ing Hamas politicians have already re-

jected the concessions and organised Imprint demonstrations in Gaza.

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung e.V. Implications on future negotiations Foreign Office Albeit the situation in the Palestinian International Cooperation Territories remains calm, the publica- tions could lead to a more difficult en- vironment for coming negotiations. PO Box 27242 | 91272 President Abbas and other officials de- Jerusalem clared that they would not retreat Phone from their official viewpoint. This di- +972 2 24043-05 minishes the chances for future con- Fax +972 2 24043-07