Saeb Erekat

Palestinian youth are calling for a silent protest this Saturday outside the headquarters of Palestinian Authority ruler Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah to protest the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Jordan.

The UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom has rejected a formal complaint by PLO “chief negotiator” Saeb Erekat that Al Jazeera English had treated him unfairly in its programs on the Palestine Papers, broadcast over four consecutive nights from 23-26 January.

Palestinian officials in Ramallah have condemned Israel’s recently announced decision to expand by 1,100 Jewish-only housing units the illegal settlement of Gilo built on land stolen from the occupied West Bank villages of Beit Jala, Beit Safafa and Sharafat.

But what they say in public is at odds with their private willingless to hand the settlement over to Israel in its entirety.

Condemnation from “chief negotiator”

A 27 September press release states:

The PLO “chief negotiator” Saeb Erekat has categorically denied a report in The Washington Post suggesting that the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership that he represents has dropped its insistence that Israel halt settlement construction in the occupied West Bank before resuming US-brokered negotiations with Israel.

Exclusive: Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas plans to allow Israel to annex settlements in the West Bank even if UN agrees to recognize a Palestinian state “on the 1967 borders” in September.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) will continue to cooperate with the Israeli occupation army even after a Hamas-backed “national unity government” is formed, Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator has told The Electronic Intifada.

In an article on Al Jazeera English and in The Guardian today, Ziyad Clot, a former legal advisor to Palestinian negotiators has revealed that he was one of the key sources for thousands of pages documents called the Palestine Papers, published in January by Al Jazeera which detail 10 years of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and US and European intervention, including minutes of conversations with top Israeli, Palestinian, American and other officials.