Al Jazeera Unveils Explosive Revelations in "Palestine Papers"

Tonight, in one of the most extensive and potentially most significant leaks in recent history, Al Jazeera is releasing more than 1600 internal documents on the Israel-Palestine conflict from 1999 to 2010>.

The Guardian of London is also publishing the documents, summarising some of the revelations:

• The scale of confidential concessions offered by Palestinian negotiators, including on the highly sensitive issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

• How Israeli leaders privately asked for some Arab citizens to be transferred to a new Palestinian state.

• The intimate level of covert co-operation between Israeli security forces and the Palestinian Authority.

• The central role of British intelligence in drawing up a secret plan to crush Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

• How Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders were privately tipped off about Israel's 2008-9 war in Gaza.

Israel-Palestine Analysis: Another Dennis Ross Mission to West Jerusalem

On Thursday, Dennis Ross, a senior member of the US National Security Council, and David Hale, deputy to President Obama's envoy George Mitchell, arrived in West Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel's security needs and the maintenance of the Israel Defense Forces' qualitative advantage during negotiations with the Palestinians would be discussed with the American diplomats. 

Back in the US, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that Washington's position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank has not changed; however, the US is not going to support the Palestinian proposal for international condemnation of Israel's "illegal" activities in the "occupied" lands.

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Russia-Palestine-Israel Triangle: Moscow Seeks A Bigger Role

Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Palestinians will ask the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to declare Israeli settlements illegal and to demand a halt to their construction.

In advance of the meeting, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was in the West Bank, holding meetings with Ramallah's officials including the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. Medvedev said:

Russia's position remains unchanged. Russia made its choice a long time ago....We supported and will support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

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Israel Snapshot: Netanyahu's Lesson from Tunisia --- Security, Security, and Security

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli Cabinet about the lesson of the developments in Tunisia: "If there is one conclusion, one clear lesson that arises from all that we see around us, it is that we need to lay the foundations of security in any agreement that we make.  We cannot simply say 'We are signing a peace agreement', close our eyes and say 'We did it' because we do not know with any clarity that the peace will indeed be honored."

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Turkey Analysis: Erdogan's Message of Brotherhood and Business to Arab Neighbours

Through solidarity, we can overcome the Palestine problem and end the pain in Iraq and Afghanistan. We do not have to apply at others to help us. Yet, at foremost, we need to establish our own union. We can strengthen stability in Lebanon and prevent terror acts in Egypt. Through solidarity, we can overcome poverty in the region. This is Turkey's goal. We have established high level cooperation mechanisms with certain countries. We have established a cooperation mechanism in the Gulf region. We can establish a better tomorrow together. We do not need others to determine relations between our countries. We can take nice steps together.

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Israel-Palestine Analysis: Secret Talks in Israel But Confusion over Trip to US

On Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister's office issued a statement that Israeli negotiator "Yitzhak Molcho and a Palestinian representative will travel to Washington next week with the aim of advancing the diplomatic process". Ramallah said they were unaware that any Palestinian official was going to the US.

On the eve of the departure to hear “new American ideas”, Palestinian top negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday that the peace talks with the Israeli government have ended and it is time for his side to make decisions. He reiterated Ramallah's position that there will be no negotiations until Israel agrees to halt all construction activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Israel-Palestine Analysis: To Get Peace, Replace the "Peace Game" (Narwani)

The Palestine-Israel conflict is no pesky regional skirmish. This century-long battle over territory threatens to draw the entire global community into its bowels if it is not dealt with soon, and the only way out of the current paralysis is to kill the "peace process" once and for all.

There is no other way to end our dependence on what is probably the least successful attempt at conflict resolution in modern history -- like wasted addicts, hoping that another tweak here or there might be the one to produce a breakthrough. No it won't, and we need to wean ourselves from this addiction in order to find a solution.

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Wikileaks Israel-Palestine Document: How U.S. Distributors Bribed Israelis to Bring Goods Into Gaza

Israeli officials may have told Americans in 2008 that "they intend to keep the Gazan economy functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis" (see our separate entry), but another U.S. embassy cable from 2006 indicates a possible way around the siege: bribing Israelis were bribed to accept US goods into Gaza.

The US Embassy in Israel reported, "As of late May 34 shipments of American goods, amounting to nearly USD 1.9 million dollars, have been waiting three to four months to cross into Gaza." However, these could be released by paying Israeli officials "special fees" which was 75 times higher than the normal processing charge.

For example, for $3000 you could get the "first place in line" or a spot "near the head of the Israeli line, which does move". Some American firms were paying up to $28,000 for a single truckload to get into Gaza.

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Gaza Youth Breaks Out: The Manifesto for Change

Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community! We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice and indifference like the Israeli F16’s breaking the wall of sound; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of this fucking situation we live in; we are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom. We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone because they are taking care of their lands; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in; sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, homemade fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on; we are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas and completely ignored by the rest of the world. 

There is a revolution growing inside of us, an immense dissatisfaction and frustration that will destroy us unless we find a way of canalizing this energy into something that can challenge the status quo and give us some kind of hope.

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Israel-Palestine: Still No Agreement to Discuss "Core Issues"

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Palestinian Authority of "evading negotiations with Israel", the Authority's leader West Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians could reach a deal within two months, as long as Netanyahu was willing to take a new approach in the peace process.

Netanyahus response brought nothing new to the table:

I am prepared to immediately sit privately for direct, continuous negotiations with Abu Mazen [Abbas] until white smoke emerges. If Abu Mazen will agree to my suggestion to directly discuss all the core issues, we will know very quickly if it is possible to reach an agreement.

Who is refusing to discuss these "core issues"?

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