Email |  Print | RSS | Comment |  

 Email |  Print

Wed, Jan 26, 2011 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Demonstrators set fire to an Israeli flag with "Al-Jazeera" written on it. The demonstration took place in front of the channel's offices in Ramallah following the publication of documents dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, leading to accusations that the Palestinian Authority was willing to make sweeping concessions to Israel (Hamas' Safa News Agency, January 24, 2011).

Hamas and PA Remarks on the ‘Palestine Papers’

On January 21 Al-Jazeera TV and the British Guardian leaked a series of documents dealing with the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Other documents, a total of 1,600, are expected to be gradually revealed (Guardian, January 25, Al-Jazeera TV, January 21, 2011). Their publication led to the Palestinian Authority’s being accused of making concessions to Israel with long-term implications regarding the core issues, mainly Jerusalem and the refugees. Their publication embarrassed the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas and other terrorist organizations are using the issue to defame the PA. Some initial reactions were the following:

The Palestinian Authority:

— Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas claimed that the documents were a “deliberate mixture” of Israeli and Palestinian proposals, and that the information contained therein had previously been presented to the Arab sates, as had all the details of all the negotiations or proposals (Wafa News Agency, January 24, 2011).

— Nabil Shaath, interviewed by Al-Jazeera TV, confirmed that the documents were authentic, but he said they were not official and did not commit the Palestinians. He complained that while the Palestinian Authority was currently doing everything it could to remove the “legitimacy of the Israeli occupation, what the Israelis call the delegitimization of Israel, Al-Jazeera is making an effort to delegitimize the Palestinians” (Al-Jazeera TV, January 24, 2011).

— Yasser Abd Rabbo, a member of the PLO’s executive committee, did not discuss the documents’ authenticity, but claimed that Al-Jazeera TV had distorted the facts or had taken them out of context, and presented its viewers with a different version of the situation. He accused Al-Jazeera and the government of Qatar of collaborating with Israel against the Palestinian Authority. He claimed the Palestinian Authority knew who had leaked the documents and would take steps against them (Palestinian Authority TV, January 24, 2011).

— Abu Alaa, head of the PLO’s Jerusalem affairs department, called the leak “an incitement campaign” against the Palestinian Authority and denied their authenticity (Wafa News Agency, January 24, 2011).

— Riyadh al-Maliki, Palestinian Authority foreign minister, wondered about the timing of the leak and accused Al-Jazeera TV of “choosing to serve Israel” which was, he claimed, waging a campaign to weaken the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Wafa News Agency, January 24, 2011).

The Palestinian media reported that the Palestinian Authority’s security forces were deployed should there be protest marches in the West Bank. They also reported that Mahmoud Abbas did not rule out the possibility of closing Al-Jazeera TV’s offices in Judea and Samaria. Following their leak dozens of Palestinian demonstrated in front of Al-Jazeera TV’s offices in Ramallah and tried to break in. They burned an Israeli flag inscribed with the channel’s name and walked on a Star of David with “Al-Jazeera” written in the center (Wafa News Agency, January 24, 2011).

The Palestinian Authority accused Al-Jazeera TV and the government of Qatar for collaborating with Israel to weaken Mahmoud Abbas. Left: Demonstrators standing on a Star of David with "Al-Jazeera" in the center. Right: Sign equating Al-Jazeera TV with Israel, held during a demonstration against Al-Jazeera TV in front of the channel's offices in Ramallah. (Hamas' Safa News Agency, January 24, 2011)

Hamas and the other terrorist organizations:

— Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri claimed that the documents proved an Israeli-Palestinian Authority “conspiracy” whose objective was to “destroy the Palestinian cause” (Hamas’ Palestine-info website, January 23, 2011).

— Senior Hamas figure Osama Hamdan claimed that the documents proved that the worries of the Palestinians and the “resistance” [i.e., the terrorist organizations] were correct and that those conducting negotiations were unreliable and were therefore not authorized to conduct negotiations with Israel for the Palestinians. He added that senior Palestinian Authority figures had not denied the documents’ authenticity (CNN, January 24, 2011).

— The Popular Resistance Committees issued a statement to the effect that “whoever gives up a grain of the soil [of “Palestine”]” is not part of the national camp, since “all Palestine belongs to Palestinians.” Mahmoud Abbas and his followers, according to the statement, “represent only themselves” (Qawm website, January 23, 2011).

— Nafez Azzam, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s political bureau, said that in light of the affair, “resistance” [i.e., terrorism and violence] is the only path to restore the “Palestinians’ rights” (PIJ Paltoday website, January 24, 2011).