Palestinian Authority negotiators with Israel agreed to cut the "right of return" of Palestinians whose families had been born in land that is today Israel to just 10,000 people. And, apparently, with no compensation from Israel.
Oh, and it gets worse.
Then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested settling additional Palestinian refugees in South America. Well, now we know just how one-sided the Bush Administration was on this.
Ah, but it's not just the Bush Administration. Team Obama threatened to cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority if it replaced Mahmoud Abbas as leader.
Almost a year later (than November 2008), the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, reacted angrily to news that Abbas had threatened to resign and call for new presidential elections. She told Palestinian negotiators: "Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] not running in the election is not an option – there is no alternative to him." The threat was withdrawn and no election was held.
As the Guardian notes, on background as to Abbas' legitimacy, or lack thereof:
Abbas was elected president in 2005, but his mandate expired in 2009 and is no longer recognised by Hamas, among others, as the legitimate Palestinian leader. (Prime Minister Salem) Fayyad was appointed prime minister by Abbas after the Hamas takeover of Gaza but his legitimacy is also strongly contested as his appointment was never confirmed as required by the PA's parliament.
The Guardian notes no new elections are immediately on the table. And, if the PA wants U.S. dollars, they can't be. Talk about a Catch-22. Talk about yet more justification for some PA person to leak to al Jazeera.
This would be the same Abbas whose negotiating team, in private, officially accepted that Israel could define itself as a Jewish state.
That, in turn connects closely to the right of return. It gives Israeli leaders justification for saying the PA has officially waived the right of return. It also theoretically gives Israel justification for Palestinian expulsion. Indeed, it already popped up in "negotiations":
In several areas, (then-Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni) pressed for Israeli Arab citizens to be moved into a Palestinian state in a land-swap deal, raising the spectre of "transfer" - in other words, moving Palestinians from one state to another without consent. The issue is controversial in Israel and backed in its wholesale form by rightwing nationalists such as the Yisrael Beiteinu party of the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.
"Transfer" is such a polite euphemism.
Going back to yesterday's posts, this sheds some more light on the "who wins" from leaking this information.
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