Vad Israel erbjöd enligt Wikileaks - något svenska media "glömde" rapportera

BICOM Briefing: The Palestine Papers
Key Points

Leaked PLO documents published by the Guardian this week detail far-reaching
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on final status issues
including the future border between Israel and a Palestinian state. They cover
mainly the Annapolis process, kick-started in 2007.

The documents include a partial account of former Israeli prime minister Ehud
Olmert's peace proposal
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/palestine-papers-documents/4736) to
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in August 2008.
It is unclear exactly to what extent the documents have been chosen
selectively, redacted or manipulated. Palestinian leaders, embarrassed by the
accounts of their proposed concessions, have claimed publicly that the
documents contain deliberate errors.
The publication of the documents, coordinated by the Qatar based Al Jazeera
news network, has widely been interpreted as a political attack on the moderate
Palestinians led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
What is contained in the leaks?

The Guardian has begun publishing documents today which they claim are leaked
reports from the PLO's Negotiation Support Unit (NSU) relating to
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations between 1999 and 2009.
There are over 1,600 documents in total, only a number of which have so far
been released. They include detailed transcripts of negotiation sessions during
the Annapolis process, led by then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian
chief negotiator Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala).
The transcripts show extensive discussions on various issues, including
territorial ones. One document records Palestinian proposals regarding which
Israeli neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem would be annexed to Israel and under
what terms. The documents testify to the extreme complexity and difficulty of
the issues involved.

The documents also include one which sets out some of the details from the
significant peace proposal
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/palestine-papers-documents/4736) made by
then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert to Palestinian President Abbas.

The Guardian has chosen to put a heavy emphasis on the Palestinian concessions
set out in some of the documents on the issues of territory, Jerusalem and
refugees. In an editorial yesterday, the Guardian heavily criticised the
Palestinian leadership as ‘weak, craven and eager to shower their counterparts
with compliments,' and called for the PA negotiators to be replaced with a
joint negotiating team that includes Hamas.

Are the leaks accurate?

Palestinian leaders Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmed Qureia and Saeb Erekat have all
accused the documents of containing falsehoods. Israeli experts familiar with
the negotiations have also noted what appear to be some deliberate
inaccuracies. It is unclear exactly to what extent the documents have been
chosen selectively, redacted or manipulated.

The documents purport to come from the PLO's Negotiation Support Unit, an
internationally-funded Palestinian body that is meant to provide technical
support to Palestinian negotiators. As NSU documents, they represent the
Palestinian account of the discussions. There is no representation in these
documents of the Israeli account of the meetings.
At best, former negotiators for Israel regard these documents to be a partial
and slanted snapshot of the negotiation process, which neither give a complete
picture of the talks nor provide the full context surrounding them.
What do we know about the Annapolis process and is there anything new in
these documents?

The Annapolis process was launched at the Annapolis Conference in November
2007. Following the conference, Israel and the Palestinians engaged in months
of intensive negotiations on final status issues. The negotiating teams were
led by Tzipi Livni and Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala).

In parallel, then-Israeli PM Olmert met routinely with Palestinian President
Abbas. According to Olmert's account, he tabled his own substantial proposal in
August 2008, and showed Abbas a map detailing Israel's proposed territorial
compromises. The proposals included giving the Palestinians the equivalent of
nearly 100% of the West Bank, as well as dividing Jerusalem. According to
Olmert, Abbas did not respond to his proposals. The talks foundered after
Olmert resigned as prime minister in September 2008.
In the past, the Palestinians have publicly acknowledged that their own
territorial proposals have included a land swap of around 2%, which would have
allowed Israel to annex some West Bank settlements close to the Green Line.

In an interview
(http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/abbas-to-haaretz-we-will-compromise-on-refugees-1.253748)
with Ha'aretz in 2008, PA President Mahmoud Abbas acknowledged that the
Palestinians would have to compromise on refugees saying: ‘We understand that
if we demand of you that all five million return to Israel, the State of Israel
would be destroyed. But we must talk about compromise and see to what numbers
you can agree.'

Whilst providing an interesting insight into the detail and nature of
closed-door negotiation sessions, the content of the proposals being discussed
will come as no surprise to those who have followed Israeli-Palestinian talks
over the last ten years.
In 2000, the Clinton Parameters, accepted by the Israeli government of Ehud
Barak, included the principle of land swaps. They also included the division of
Jerusalem, based on Jewish neighbourhoods becoming part of Israel and Arab
neighbourhoods becoming part of a Palestinian state. The unofficial Geneva
Accords, signed by Israeli and Palestinian peace activists in 2003, detailed
similar compromises.

Olmert has talked openly about his peace proposals a number of times since
stepping down as prime minister. Olmert's memoirs are due to be serialised in
Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot over the next three Fridays; the first
instalment will deal with politics and are expected to touch on this subject.
What is the political significance and what will happen next?

Speculation has begun into who leaked the documents and why. They are widely
being interpreted as an attack on the moderate Palestinian leadership in the
West Bank led by Mahmoud Abbas, and their current chief negotiator, Saeb
Erekat.

The media channel which received the documents and shared them with the
Guardian is the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel. Al Jazeera has been
accused by the PA leadrship of waging a campaign against it. The Qatari owners
of Al Jazeera are supporters of Hamas.

Analysts in Israel have also speculated that former Gaza strongman Mohammed
Dahlan, a bitter opponent of Abbas within Fatah, might be involved in the
leaks.

The Guardian is to publish more from the documents in coming days. This will
include details on significant but previously unknown Palestinian concessions
on the Palestinian right of return; proposals from the Israeli government
officials regarding moving some Arab citizens of Israel to a future Palestinian
state; collaboration between Israeli military intelligence and Palestinian
security services; involvement of British officials in a plan to crush Hamas;
and information on how Palestinian leaders were told about Israel's intentions
to launch Operation Cast Lead in December 2008.
Further reading

BICOM Research Paper: Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations
(http://www.bicom.org.uk/context/research-and-analysis/latest-bicom-analysis/bicom-research-paper----israeli-palestinian-negotiations---a-guide-to-the-issues--players-and-prospects),
September 2010

BICOM Analysis: Olmert's Peace Proposal
(http://www.bicom.org.uk/context/research-and-analysis/latest-bicom-analysis/bicom-analysis--olmert-s-peace-proposal),
December 2009

BICOM Spotlight: The Issue of Borders
(http://www.bicom.org.uk/context/research-and-analysis/spotlight/the-issue-of-borders)
(interactive resource with maps)

View this email with images at: http://www.bicom.org.uk/newsletter-latest-from-bicom/bicom-briefing--the-palestine-papers
==============================
BICOM - Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre
==============================

Please visit http://www.bicom.org.uk
==============================
Latest Analysis from 25/01/2011==============================