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I'm not up to reading that much now, maybe later. I'll take a stab at the probable truth however. Israel is unwilling to compromise of so many things, especially since the radicals always violate the terms.
SUMMARY:
Al Jazeera has leaked do entation regarding Palestinian/Israeli negotiations.
The do entation shows that the Palestinians were prepared to make major concessions, and all of these offers were essentially ignored by the Israeli government, who offered little in return.
The scale of the discussed concessions has infuriated the Palestinian people, and embarassed Israel.
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Secret files expose Palestinian 'offers' to Israel
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Palestinians offered Israel major concessions on the thorny issues of annexed east Jerusalem and refugees in 2008 peace talks, in leaked do ents angrily dismissed as "distortions" on Monday.
Details of the proposals emerged as Al-Jazeera news channel began late Sunday to release the first of some 1,600 do ents known as the "Palestine Papers" on more than 10 years of secret US-brokered Middle East peace talks.
The files, shared with Britain's Guardian newspaper, caused surprise and anger among Palestinian leaders, with chief negotiator Saeb Erakat saying they contained "lies" and president Mahmud Abbas saying they distorted the issue.
Described by Al-Jazeera and the Guardian as "the most important leak in the history of the conflict," the papers include hundreds of official Palestinian transcripts from private meetings with the Israelis.
Central to the revelations is a series of far-reaching Palestinian offers regarding Jewish settlements in occupied east Jerusalem, the scope of which have never been made public.
"What is in that paper gives them the biggest Yerushalaim in Jewish history," Erakat said in one of the do ents, using the Hebrew name for the Holy City.
He was talking about a Palestinian offer in 2008 which would allow Israel to keep all but one of its settlements in east Jerusalem as well as the walled Old City's Jewish Quarter and part of the Armenian Quarter.
The offer was made during talks between Condoleezza Rice who was US secretary of state at the time, Israel's then foreign minister Tzipi Livni, former Palestinian premier Ahmad Qorei and Erakat, according to the do ents.
"We proposed that Israel annexes all settlements in Jerusalem except Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa)," Qorei is quoted as saying.
But Israel turned down the offer, refusing "to even place Jerusalem on the agenda, let alone offer the PA (Palestinian Authority) concessions in return for its historic offer," the papers show.
In other papers to be released in the days ahead, Erakat was also said to have offered to accept the return of only 100,000 refugees who fled or were forced out when Israel was founded in 1948.
They now number -- with their descendants -- almost five million.
The report comes as world powers seek ways to haul Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table after direct peace talks broke down last September in a dispute over Jewish settlements.
The revelations prompted a furious reaction from the Palestinians, with Erakat accusing Al-Jazeera of a smear campaign.
"Al-Jazeera's information is full of distortions and fraud," he told AFP from Cairo where he was accompanying Abbas, saying the revelations were taken "out of context and contain lies."
Erakat, who was widely quoted in the papers, later issued a statement that the two sides had discussed "many ideas... including some we could never agree to" as part of the negotiation process.
Speaking after meeting Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Abbas accused the Doha-based satellite channel of deliberately mixing up the Palestinian and Israeli positions.
"Their goal is to mix things up," he charged, suggesting the channel had attributed Israeli positions to the Palestinians.
The United States acknowledged that the release of the secret Palestinian files made the Middle East situation "more difficult." but said a framework peace deal remained possible.
"None of this changes our understanding of what is at stake and what needs to be done," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.
"We don't deny that this release will, at least for a time, make the situation more difficult than it already was, but again, we are clear-eyed about this, we always recognised that this would be a great challenge but it doesn't change our overall objective.
"We continue to believe that a framework agreement is both possible and necessary, so we continue to work and engage the parties as we've done throughout the process," he said.
The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, who has been involved in Israeli-Palestinian talks since 2007, "said that some of the commentary he has seen conveys an inaccurate impression," a UN spokesman said.
Serry said he could "personally attest" to the commitment of Palestinian leaders to secure the full rights of their people, spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters at the United Nations.
But Gaza's Hamas rulers said the revelations revealed "the ugly face" of Abbas's leadership, with spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri saying it was "cooperating with the occupation."
Israel offered no official reaction, and Livni, now the opposition leader, said only she would "continue to maintain discretion of the talks, in order to protect Israeli interests."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110124...20110124202132
I'm not up to reading that much now, maybe later. I'll take a stab at the probable truth however. Israel is unwilling to compromise of so many things, especially since the radicals always violate the terms.
Indeed. The radicals within Israel constantly move outside of agreed on boundaries and build where their government has agreed that no settlements should be built.
I think we would both agree on that.
I've come to the conclusion that no matter what happens..the radicals within Israel will never let a two state solution be possible. Say all you want about the radical Muslims, there's not as many but just as powerful group of radical and right-wing Jews in the Israeli government that would rather die than see any part of the Palestinian territories back to the Palestinians.
No wonder people know you're an idiot.
ASSume all you want. You just prove yourself the idiot.
Well, my impression from some of those cables is that the US is not really interested in being a partner in any peace process either.
It was obviously not a Bush priority. One of his biggest foreign policy failures.
The fact that lack of effort made us arguably less safe, because this festering sore only helps Al Qaeda make its case about America being evil, is something many on the right would like to ignore.
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