The Palestinian authorities have reacted to the leaks that Al Jazeera released yesterday, in which the Arabic TV channel published what they call “the largest-ever leak of confidential documents related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The documents suggest that Palestinians offered Israel "the biggest Jerusalem in history” in a secret agreement to accept Israel's annexation of all but one of the settlements built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinian President Mahumud Abbas has already denied those secret concessions and said that the leaks had deliberately confused Palestinian and Israeli negotiating positions. “We say things very clearly. We do not have secrets," assures Mr Abbas.
Yasser Abed-Rabbo, a senior PLO leader, referred to the leaks as "a distortion of the truth" designed to create confusion and "a propaganda game through the media in order to brainwash Palestinian citizens".
According to Al Jazeera, there are nearly 1,700 files of diplomatic correspondence full of details related to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. These documents include memos, e-mails, maps, minutes from private meetings, accounts of high level exchanges, strategy papers and even PowerPoint presentations dating from 1999 to 2010:
“The material is voluminous and detailed; it provides an unprecedented look inside the continuing negotiations involving high-level American, Israeli, and Palestinian authority officials,” says Al Jazeera. The Arabic TV channel will release them fully between January 24 and 26, but said that they won't reveal their original source: “We have taken great care over an extended period of time to assure ourselves of their authenticity," they said.
Alalam Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian NGO Network, spoke exclusively to The Fresh Outlook and said that although it is difficult to know the veracity of these documents, “the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is much more complicated of all that”.
Mr Jarrar believes that this news will lead to talking, discussion and thinking among people, but thinks that this “public chaos of opinions” won't help to solve anything.
He added: “Those documents represent the track of the last two years, but the negotiations have been there for the more than 17 years." According to Mr Jarrar, the fact that these files have been brought to light is nothing but evidence of how complex the situation is.
According to Mr Jarrar, peace negotiations will not finish unless a third party takes part, such as the US. He said: “At the moment, Israel doesn't really care about reaching an agreement because no one is pressuring them by applying international laws.” The belief of the Palestinian people is that there is not a serious and real discussion about reaching the peace, says Mr Jarrar.
By Eva Fernandez
The documents suggest that Palestinians offered Israel "the biggest Jerusalem in history” in a secret agreement to accept Israel's annexation of all but one of the settlements built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinian President Mahumud Abbas has already denied those secret concessions and said that the leaks had deliberately confused Palestinian and Israeli negotiating positions. “We say things very clearly. We do not have secrets," assures Mr Abbas.
Yasser Abed-Rabbo, a senior PLO leader, referred to the leaks as "a distortion of the truth" designed to create confusion and "a propaganda game through the media in order to brainwash Palestinian citizens".
According to Al Jazeera, there are nearly 1,700 files of diplomatic correspondence full of details related to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. These documents include memos, e-mails, maps, minutes from private meetings, accounts of high level exchanges, strategy papers and even PowerPoint presentations dating from 1999 to 2010:
“The material is voluminous and detailed; it provides an unprecedented look inside the continuing negotiations involving high-level American, Israeli, and Palestinian authority officials,” says Al Jazeera. The Arabic TV channel will release them fully between January 24 and 26, but said that they won't reveal their original source: “We have taken great care over an extended period of time to assure ourselves of their authenticity," they said.
Alalam Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian NGO Network, spoke exclusively to The Fresh Outlook and said that although it is difficult to know the veracity of these documents, “the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is much more complicated of all that”.
Mr Jarrar believes that this news will lead to talking, discussion and thinking among people, but thinks that this “public chaos of opinions” won't help to solve anything.
He added: “Those documents represent the track of the last two years, but the negotiations have been there for the more than 17 years." According to Mr Jarrar, the fact that these files have been brought to light is nothing but evidence of how complex the situation is.
According to Mr Jarrar, peace negotiations will not finish unless a third party takes part, such as the US. He said: “At the moment, Israel doesn't really care about reaching an agreement because no one is pressuring them by applying international laws.” The belief of the Palestinian people is that there is not a serious and real discussion about reaching the peace, says Mr Jarrar.
By Eva Fernandez
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