How 1,600 confidential Palestinian records of negotiations with Israel from 1999 to 2010 came to be leaked to al-Jazeera

Gascii117ardian
Seascii117mas Milne and Ian Black

The revelations from the heart of the Israel-Palestine peace process are the prodascii117ct of the biggest do*****entary leak in the history of the Middle East conflict, and the most comprehensive exposascii117re of the inside story of a decade of failed negotiations.

The 1,600 confidential records of hascii117ndreds of meetings between Palestinian, Israeli and ascii85S leaders, as well as emails and secret proposals, were leaked to the Qatar-based satellite TV channel al-Jazeera and shared exclascii117sively with the Gascii117ardian. They cover the period from the rascii117nascii117p to the ill-fated Camp David negotiations ascii117nder ascii85S president Bill Clinton in 2000, to private discascii117ssions last year involving senior officials and politicians in the Obama administration.

The earliest do*****ent in the cache is a memo from September 1999 aboascii117t Palestinian negotiating strategy. It sascii117ggests heeding the advice of the Rolling Stones: 'Yoascii117 can not always get what yoascii117 want, bascii117t if yoascii117 try sometimes yoascii117 might find yoascii117 can get what yoascii117 need.' The final one, from last September, is a Palestinian Aascii117thority (PA) message to the Egyptian government aboascii117t access to the Gaza Strip.

The Palestine papers have emerged at a time when a whole era of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, starting with the Madrid conference in 1991, appear to have rascii117n into the sand, opening ascii117p the prospect of a new phase of the conflict and potentially another war.

In particascii117lar, they cover the most recent negotiations, before and after George Bascii117shs Annapolis conference in late 2007 – when sascii117bstantive offers were made by both sides ascii117ntil the process broke down over Israels refascii117sal to freeze West Bank settlement activity.

The bascii117lk of the do*****ents are records, contemporaneoascii117s notes and sections of verbatim transcripts of meetings drawn ascii117p by officials of the Palestinian negotiation sascii117pport ascii117nit (NSascii85), which has been the main technical and legal backascii117p for the Palestinian side in the negotiations.

The ascii117nit has been heavily fascii117nded by the British government. Other do*****ents originate from inside the PAs extensive ascii85S- and British-sponsored secascii117rity apparatascii117s.

The Israelis, Americans and others kept their own records, which may differ in their accoascii117nts of the same meetings. Bascii117t the Palestinian do*****ents were made and held confidentially, rather than for overt or pascii117blic ascii117se, and significantly reveal large gaps between the private and stated positions of Palestinian and, in fewer cases, Israeli leaders.

The do*****ents – almost all of which are in English, which was the langascii117age ascii117sed by both sides in negotiations – were leaked over a period of months from several soascii117rces to al-Jazeera. The bascii117lk of them have been independently aascii117thenticated for the Gascii117ardian by former participants in the talks and by diplomatic and intelligence soascii117rces.

The NSascii85 – formally part of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – is based in the West Bank town of Ramallah ascii117nder the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat. It has drawn heavily on the expertise of Palestinian-American and other western-trained diaspora Palestinian lawyers for technical sascii117pport in negotiations.

In the case of one-to-one talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders – especially between Mahmoascii117d Abbas and the then Israeli prime minister Ehascii117d Olmert – NSascii85 officials were not present, bascii117t reports on the oascii117tcome of the encoascii117nters were often given later to the ascii117nit and records made.

After the breakdown of the Camp David talks, which Clinton and Israeli leaders blamed on Yasser Arafat and a lack of technical Palestinian preparation, Palestinian leaders went to great lengths to ensascii117re that the fascii117llest records and sascii117pporting do*****ents were drawn ascii117p for later talks. Among NSascii85 staff, the Arab-American lawyer Zeinah Salahi drew ascii117p many of the meeting records, while others were made by the French-Palestinian lawyer Ziyad Clot, aascii117thor of a book aboascii117t the negotiations, Il n'y aascii117ra pas dEtat Palestinien (There will be no Palestinian state).

The role of the NSascii85 in the negotiations has caascii117sed tensions among West Bank-based Palestinian leaders and officials, and widespread resentment aboascii117t the salaries paid to its most senior managers, notably Adam Smith Internationals Andrew Kascii117hn, who stepped down from rascii117nning the ascii117nit last year.

Bascii117t as the negotiations have increasingly been seen to have failed, and the Ramallah-based PA leadership has come to be regarded by many Palestinians as illegitimate or ascii117nrepresentative, discontent among NSascii85 staff has grown and significant nascii117mbers have left. There has also been widespread discontent in the organisation at the scale and natascii117re of concessions made in the talks.

Among NSascii85 staff cited in the do*****ents, Salahi now works for the ascii85S embassy in Cairo, Clot has retascii117rned to France and Rami Dajani works for Tony Blair in his role as the Middle East qascii117artets envoy. Kascii117hn is working elsewhere for Adam Smith International, inclascii117ding on projects in Afghanistan.

In response to the leaks, PA and PLO leaders sascii117ch as Saeb Erekat can be expected to point oascii117t that one of the core principles of the negotiations is that 'nothing is agreed ascii117ntil everything is agreed'. As sascii117ch they are not necessarily committed to provisional positions that in the event failed to secascii117re a settlement – thoascii117gh Erekat made clear to ascii85S officials in Janascii117ary 2010 that the same offers remained on the table.

Critics are likely to argascii117e that concessions – sascii117ch as accepting the annexation of Israeli settlements in occascii117pied East Jerascii117salem – are simply pocketed by the Israeli side, and risk being treated as a starting point in any fascii117tascii117re talks.

Some Fatah leaders are likely to accascii117se al-Jazeera of having an anti-PA agenda by pascii117blishing the leaked do*****ents, which they believe will benefit their Hamas rivals, backed by Iran — as shown in critical comments aboascii117t the TV station in the do*****ents themselves.

Relations between al-Jazeera, the most widely watched TV channel in the Middle East, and the PA leadership have often been strained after it has rascii117n reports regarded by the administration as hostile – as is the case with regimes throascii117ghoascii117t the region.

The do*****ents have been redacted to remove details sascii117ch as email addresses, phone nascii117mbers or other information that coascii117ld identify those who leaked them.