Al-Jazeera to publish huge cache of Palestinian documents

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Herb Keinon (January 24, 2011)

With the Palestinian Authority making an international incident over every plan to build in Jewish Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line, a cache of some 1,600 documents � mostly from the Palestinian Negotiating Unit � shows that in 2008, the PA was willing to recognize eventual Israeli control over all those neighborhoods, with the exception of Har Homa.

In dramatic fashion, both Al-Jazeera and the Guardian published excerpts Sunday night of what they are calling �The Palestine Papers,� providing details � through the eyes of Palestinians involved in the negotiations � of nearly a decade of talks.

According to the Guardian, the documents were leaked over a period of months to Al-Jazeera and shared with the British newspaper, which said it had authenticated the bulk of the documents.

According to the paper, the documents, which will be published in the coming days, will show the �scale of Palestinian concessions,� including on Jerusalem and on the issue of refugees; the level of Israeli and Palestinian covert security cooperation; how Israeli leaders �privately asked for some Arab citizens to be transferred to a new Palestinian state;� and how British intelligence played a key role in drawing up a plan to crush Hamas.

In addition, the Guardian reported, the documents � not a part of the WikiLeaks dump of US diplomatic cables � will also show that the PA was tipped off about Operation Cast Lead. �