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Documents on Israel-PA talks leaked

More than 16,000 controversial documents on allegedly secret talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) between 2000 and 2010 have been leaked.

The documents, released by Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday, maintain that the PA secretly agreed to concede almost all of the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) to Israel. The leak alleges that the unprecedented proposal is just one of a string of concessions offered by the PA.

The report said it has 16,076 confidential records of meetings, emails and communications between the Palestinian Authority, Israeli and US leaders.

According to the report, PA leaders were privately tipped off about Israel’s 2008-9 war in Gaza, which killed over 1,400 Palestinians and injured thousands of others.

The documents also maintain that Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator Saeb Erekat proposed that al-Quds’ Old City be divided, but he immediately denied he had made the offer.

In May 2008, the PA negotiator at the time, Ahmed Qureia, had proposed that Israel annex all illegal settlements in East al-Quds except Har Homa (Jabal Abu Ghneim), in a bid to reach a final deal.

“This is the first time in history that we make such a proposition,” he reportedly said, pointing out that this was a bigger concession than made at Camp David talks in 2000.

Meanwhile, other files show how the PA allegedly agreed to allow only 10,000 Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and a total of 100,000 over a ten-year period.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East al-Quds and has settled close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 illegal settlements.

Many of the leaked documents are expected to be published by the UK daily Guardian newspaper over the coming days.

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