Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Erekat

Showing posts with label Erekat. Show all posts

Sunday, February 02, 2014

Erekat's latest lie: "My family was in Palestine for 9000 years". They are really from Arabia.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator over the weekend again ruled out the notion of Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Speaking at a Munich conference, on a panel with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni, Erekat said the demand was unacceptable: “When you say ‘accept Israel as a Jewish state’ you are asking me to change my narrative,” he claimed, asserting that his ancestors lived in the region “5,500 years before Joshua Bin-Nun came and burned my hometown Jericho.”

Joshua lived about 3,300 years ago, so Erekat is claiming that his family was in the region for nearly 9000 years.

Is this true?

Not even close.

Erekat was born in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem. I found an interview with another Erekat who was born in Abu Dis, named Hussein Mohamed Erekat. He says that his family actually comes from the Huwaitat region of the northwestern Arabian Peninsula.

Indeed, this article about the dialects and clans of Saudi Arabia confirms the existence of the Erekat (sometimes spelled Areikat or Ariqat) families in Huwaitat, and they are one of seven clans that ended up in Palestine.

Is Saeb a member of this clan? Yes, he is.

This Facebook page of the Erekat family traces the Erekat family history, and this article confirms that the family came from the Huwaitat region, and it also mentions prominent Erekats - including Saeb.

That article also says that before Huwaitat, their ancestors emigrated from Medina.

All of the Erekats are related. Most of their most prominent members have held positions in Jordan's government or armed forces, but three PLO diplomats are from the family, including Saeb, the US representative of the PLO Maen Rashid Areikat, and the PLO's delegate to the Ukraine Khaled Erekat.

(Saeb is also implying that he was born in Jericho, but he wasn't.)

Saeb Erekat is, once again, lying. Just as we caught him lying many, many times before.

And after all these years of documented lies, no one in the media has had the guts to confront him. Because, you see, he may be a liar, but he is a moderate liar, and therefore deserves everyone's uncritical support.

And why should Israel have a problem signing a peace agreement with liars?

UPDATE: Erekat actually said "I am the proud son of the Canaanites who were there 5,500 years before Joshua bin Nun burned down the town of Jericho."

Erekat compares Abbas to Mother Teresa and Thomas Jefferson

Saeb Erekat, that moderate darling of the West, keeps making preposterous statements in Arabic that the Western media ignores.

His latest is that he is fearful that Abbas would meet the fate of Yasir Arafat - meaning, of course, that Israel would assassinate Abbas the way that Erekat fearlessly accuses Israel of killing Arafat.

He added, "I'm telling you: if Mother Teresa was Chairperson of the Palestinian people and Montesquieu was the Chairman of the Parliament and Thomas Jefferson was president and prime minister and favored a Palestinian state on the '67 borders and Jerusalem as its capital and resolving the refugee issue, our partners [Israel] would describe them as terrorists and say they should get rid of them."

Erekat then showed off his flexibility and moderation by once again listing the PLO's red lines:

First we can not accept Israel as a Jewish state. Secondly we can not accept any Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, without Jerusalem. Thirdly we can not accept any Israeli on Palestinian territory, sea or air, after the completion of the gradual withdrawal. Fourth we can not accept any solution without the exercise of the refugees' right of return according to Resolution 194, the right of return and compensation, and (fifth) the release of all prisoners at the signing of the agreement. This is the Palestinian position.

In other words, if they cannot be allowed to destroy Israel demographically, the Palestinian Arabs would prefer not to have a state at all. A peace agreement is less important than allowing murderers to go free and become heroes. Taking away Jewish rights to practice their religion in their holiest city is a basic Arab right. If the PLO does not receive all of its demands, then it would prefer not to have a state with compromises. It would prefer that millions of Palestinian Arabs remain stateless for the next 65 years. It would consider terrorism as a right to get what it demands (as the Fatah platform states explicitly.)

Doesn't this sound just like something Mother Teresa or Thomas Jefferson would say?

The media, of course, is hiding Erekat's absurd words.

Erekat made the same comparison over a year ago. The ever vigilant media missed the story entirely.

Ma'an reported on the assassination accusation - but studiously ignored the part about Mother Teresa that was in the very same article.

But there's more.

Nine years ago, Erekat made another version of this statement that is even more outrageous - and that showed that he justifies terror.

Erekat added that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory "would have turned Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela into terrorists."

This is what Erekat really believes - not that Israel falsely considers Palestinian Arab leaders to be terrorist, but that they have the right to be terrorists.

Over the years he has honed that message to be a bit more Western-friendly. He still says stupid things, but he can rely on the media to edit his words so he is not embarrassed. After all, he is the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Arabs - it wouldn't be right to show that he is an immoral supporter of terrorism, right?

A lawyer rips Erekat to shreds

We've shown many times that PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat is a liar.

Here is a great article by lawyer Richard Horowitz that rips apart Erekat's claims at a recent conference that Israel is violating legal agreements in the Oslo framework:

On November 10, 1975, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 3376creating the “UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People,” and on May 20, 2013 it held its 352nd meeting, for which Saeb Erekat, Palestine’s chief negotiator with Israel, delivered the keynote address.

Erekat explained that the Palestinians will not resume negotiations with Israel, not because it has preconditions, but because Israel has to first satisfy its legal obligations.

“We have no conditions to resume negotiations. When we say Israel must stop settlement activity, this is not a condition, this is an Israeli obligation, emanating Article 31 the final clauses of the Interim Agreement 1995 and the Roadmap which specified stopping settlement activities including natural growth as an obligation on Israel.

When we speak about releasing prisoners, especially those who were arrested before the end of May 1994, we also stipulate Article 3 to the Sharm el Sheik Agreement of 1999; that’s an agreement signed with Israel.

And when we say two-state solution of 1967 the Roadmap specified that the objective of the peace process is to end the occupation that began in 1967. So Israel in its blame-game and finger pointing that we put conditions. Ladies and gentlemen, these are not conditions, these are Israeli obligations.”

A review of the documents Erekat cites shows no such Israeli obligations. Article 31 of the Interim Agreement of 1995 signed by both parties contains no requirement for Israel to cease settlement activity. This interim agreement mentions settlements only in the context of issues that will be determined through “permanent status negotiations,” along, for example, with Jerusalem, borders, and refugees (Article 31(5). These issues, including settlements, are again listed in Article 17(1)(a) as “issues that will be negotiated in the permanent status negotiations.”

Erekat ignores paragraph six of Article 31, “neither party shall be deemed, by virtue of having entered into this Agreement, to have renounced or waived any of its existing rights, claims, or positions,” and paragraph seven, “neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations,” as the Palestinians did by presenting the issue of its statehood before the Security Council and General Assembly.

Erekat also relies on the 2003 Roadmap as proof of Israel’s obligation to “freeze[s] all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements),” as the document states. The Roadmap, however, is neither an agreement nor in any way a legally binding document. It is a recommendation proposed by the Quartet to the parties bearing no legal authority, similar to UN General Assembly resolutions, which are non-binding. For example, General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947, a non-binding recommendation, “call[ed] upon the inhabitants of Palestine to take such steps as may be necessary on their part to put this plan into effect,” meaning “independent Arab and Jewish States … shall come into existence in Palestine,” soon after the expiration of the Mandate for Palestine in May 1948, created by the League of Nations in 1922. This resolution was accepted only by Palestine’s Jewish community, which declared Israel’s independence in May 1948, not its Arab community.

The second Israeli obligation Erekat claims is that Article 3 of the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum (Erekat referred to this document as an agreement), also signed by both parties, requires Israel to release all Palestinian prisoners by stating that the article applies to “especially those who were arrested before the end of 1994.” Article 3 however, states that “Israel shall release Palestinian and other prisoners who committed their offences prior to September 13, 1993, and were arrested prior to May 4, 1994,” meaning the article refers onlyand not especially to prisoners in this category. Erekat ignored the implication of Israeli and Palestinian negotiations, pursuant to Article 3 of the Memorandum, which stated, “the two Sides shall establish a joint committee that shall follow up on matters related to the release of Palestinian prisoners.” The joint committee met numerous times to negotiate the prisoner release issue, with Erekat playing a leading role.

To prove Israel’s third obligation, to return to the 1967 line in order to create the two-state solution, Erekat again cited the Roadmap, which does state, “the settlement will resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and end the occupation that began in 1967.” As stated the Roadmap is a recommendation by the Quartet to the parties and not a binding legal document. As such, the Roadmap cannot create obligations on either party; rather, this language provides historical perspective. Moreover, that the issue of borders is included in the Interim Agreement of 1995 as a matter for final status negotiations negates the argument that a return to the 1967 line is an Israeli obligation. In fact, theSecurity Council Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967 submitted by UK ambassador, Lord Caradon, spoke of the “withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict,” and intentionally omitted the word "the" preceding the word terroritories, indicating the resolution did not have the intention of withdrawal from all territories.

The implication of Erekat’s claim that a return to the 1967 line is an Israeli legal obligation and not a Palestinian condition to resume negotiations becomes evident when he stated, “we have also entertained that if Israel accepts two states on 1967, and Palestine becomes independent we are willing to entertain the idea of minor modifications.” Erekat in effect is saying that only after Palestine achieves statehood on the 1967 line will it entertain minor modifications on its sovereign land.

The parties agreed in the Interim Agreement of 1995 that settlements, refugees, and borders are to be left for final status negotiations, which will not occur if the Palestinians consider these issues unsatisfied Israeli legal obligations.

You literally cannot trust anything that comes out of Erekat's mouth.

(h/t Lauri)

Abbas says Israel wants to assassinate Saeb Erekat (updated)

Al Medayeen will broadcast a wide-ranging interview with Mahmoud Abbas this Friday, and part of what he says is being teased ahead of time.

Abbas said, "I challenge anyone to deny the relationship between Zionism and Nazism before World War II."

This is, of course, a sickening implication. There were contacts before World War II as Zionists tried to save Jews from Germany; for example, the Ha'avara Agreement. Abbas is however trying to spin it as if Zionists and Nazis were cooperating in genocide, which puts him beneath contempt.

Abbas also says that "Palestine" requested to save 150,000 Palestinian Arab refugees from Syria, and Israel agreed to it. Unless something has changed, Abbas had rejected Israel's conditions, so the details will be interesting.

Furthermore, Abbas charged that Israel wanted to get rid of Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the PLO, saying they wanted to assassinate him like they did to Arafat.

Mahmoud Abbas seems to be turning paranoid in his old age.

UPDATE: Yoel writes:

According to Maariv Abbas also said that he will write 70 books that prove the ties between the Zionist movement and the Nazis before WWII. He challenges any Jew to prove him wrong. Abbas also hinted 3 times that there are people who want to kill him and get rid of him, not Erekat.

Erekat the liar strikes again

Saeb Erekat, the PA's official liar-in-chief, continues on his proud tradition in his comments on the letter written by Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman:

PLO official Saeb Erekat said Thursday that he had written to the US and Israel asking for clarification of a missive by the Israeli foreign minister slamming the president and calling for a new Palestinian leadership.

Erekat told Lebanese satellite channel Mayadeen that he intends to send more letters to international bodies to warn that President Mahmoud Abbas is in danger.

Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman's letter to US, EU, Russian and UN leaders called for Palestinian elections to usher in new leaders.

"Due to Abbas' weak standing and his policy of not renewing the (peace) negotiations, which is an obstacle to peace, the time has come to consider a creative solution, to think 'outside the box,' in order to strengthen the Palestinian leadership," the controversial minister wrote.

Erekat said the letter entails incitement to kill Abbas.

The letter calls for new elections. In no way, shape or form does it call for his death. Luckily, I reproduced the entire letter a few days ago, so we can see yet again that Erekat lies as easily as he breathes.

Time to bring up my 2010 Erekat the Liar video:

Other posts proving his lies since then: Fisking an op-ed, his lie about Israel's being accepted to the UN, his bizarre charge that Qatar invests in Jewish settlements, his lies about the video I spoofed above, and his admitting that he lies all over the world.

And not once - literally never - does the media call him out on his lies. He is still a featured guest on CNN and elsewhere, where his constant lies are not questioned in the least.

Isn't that supposed to be the media's job? Well, yes - unless they agree with the agenda of the liar.

CNN gives Erekat a pass (Honest Reporting)

From Honest Reporting:

Erekat's lie of the day

Chief PLO negotiator and Western darling Saeb Erekat just can't help himself. He lies every time he opens his mouth.

The latest example comes from Palestine Press Agency:

Saeb Erekat said the statements of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who claimed that President Mahmoud Abbas is the biggest obstacle to peace and must be removed, are extremely dangerous and an invitation to assassinate and kill President Abu Mazen.

Erekat told the radio station 'Voice of Palestine' that he made contacts with both the United States and the European Union and Russia to have them denounce these dangerous statements.

Erekat said, "We understand that there is a price for everything, but when it comes to public incitement to kill President Abu Mazen, this is what we reject."

Here's what Lieberman said:

If there is a true stumbling block to peace, it is Abu Mazen. When [Abbas] talks about quitting, it’s not a threat, it’s a blessing, I can only hope that he leaves soon. Anyone who replaces him will be better than he is.

Incitement to kill Abbas?

After all these years, Erekat knows that Western diplomats and the media will not call him on his astounding record of lying, so he will continue to do so with impunity.

Erekat lie of the day

From Wafa:

PLO Executive Committee Member, Saeb Erekat, Wednesday denied reports that the Quartet has proposed a meeting between the Palestinians and Israelis in Jordan later this month.

Erekat, speaking to Voice of Palestine radio, said the Quartet contacted the Palestinian leadership and denied statements by US State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, announcing the proposed meeting between both sides.

But in WaPo:

International Mideast mediators proposed a meeting between Israel and the Palestinians this month to relaunch stalled peace talks, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday the global spotlight on the conflict should be a catalyst to bring the two sides together.

On Sept. 23, hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took his people’s quest for independence to the United Nations and asked for U.N. membership, the Quartet moved to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It set a 30-day deadline for the two sides to hold preliminary talks aimed at resurrecting direct negotiations and called for a peace deal by the end of 2012.

To keep up the momentum, the Quartet wants both sides to meet in Jordan on Oct. 23, the deadline they set for talks to resume.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said there would be no decision on whether the Palestinians would attend the meeting until a formal invitation had been received.

So Erekat knew about the proposal, even if it wasn't a formal invitation - and then he turned around and told Wafa that there was no proposal for talks at all.

Obviously the Quartet would not issue a formal invitation if it knows that one side will refuse, because that would be embarrassing. But it is just as obvious that the Quartet has been pushing for, and proposing, meetings between the two sides.

Erekat uses lawfare against Al Jazeera (updated)

PLO official and serial liar Saeb Erekat filed a complaint with the British broadcasting regulator Ofcom against Al Jazeera over its release of the so-called "Palestine Papers."

He complained that the release of the papers was unjust to him.

Previously, he had said that their release would result in his life being threatened.

Erekat said the Qatar-based network had misrepresented quotes and made up others in covering "The Palestine Papers."

"What Al Jazeera people are doing is asking Palestinians to shoot me, physically. That's what they are doing. They are saying: 'You are guilty and thus you should be executed'," said Erekat, for years a central figure in the peace talks.

"Speaking for me and my family, they are inciting against our lives," he told Reuters in an interview at his office in the West Bank city of Jericho.

Which shows how much he believes that his people support compromises with Israel - he believes that they would murder him!

Ofcom, for its part, dismissed the allegations, saying that Erekat brought no evidence that the papers hurt him and that he had plenty of chances to tell the world his side of the story.

Al Jazeera was pleased at Ofcom's decision.

UPDATE: Challah Hu Akbar found the Ofcom ruling.

The main impression I get is that Erekat is really a whiner.

Erekat: "Palestine" would still be subsidiary to the PLO

PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat says that a declaration of a Palestinian Arab state would not affect the status of the PLO as "the sole legitimate representative for the Palestinian people."

He says that the PLO is the only party that can negotiate for "Palestine" - even after "Palestine" is established.

According to Erekat, the statehood demand next month will be submitted by Mahmoud Abbas to the Security Council in his capacity as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as President of the State of Palestine, but the PLO will remain the mandate-holder in the final negotiations, including all final-status issues like "refugees," water, land and Jerusalem.

It is far from clear that he is saying that the PLO would be dissolved after negotiations.

So any Palestinian Arab state that would be declared next month would be perhaps the first state ever recognized that was run by a private organization.

Erekat's threats of the day

His lies are getting surreal:

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat vigorously condemned both Israel and the United States during a briefing to over 90 Palestinian envoys in Istanbul on Sunday, saying the Oslo process was on the verge of failure.

Erekat said that if the United States continued to stymie the Palestinian efforts to get a state recognized by the United Nations, the Palestinian Authority should be dismantled.

"If the United States wants the Palestinian Authority to continue to exist, then the price is the establishment of a Palestinian state in keeping with the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital," Erekat told the envoys, according to a transcript of his remarks that appeared in the Al-Ayam newspaper.

"But if the United States vetoes accepting Palestine to the United Nations in the Security Council, uses its financial aid to the PA as political blackmail and leaves Israel as the source of authority, then in my opinion, the PA must cease to exist."

The very definition of the Palestinian Authority is an interim organization that only handles administrative, internal affairs until a final status agreement.

In other words, by definition, the PA will cease to exist anyway the minute a Palestinian Arab state would be established!

Moreover, Erekat is saying that Oslo is "on the verge of failure" if the US doesn't acquiesce to ripping up Oslo itself by bypassing any negotiations and giving the PLO everything it demands, at Israel's expense.

Erekat is threatening the US by saying that the PA should cease to exist unless the US allows it to cease to exist, and that Oslo will fail unless the US supports destroying Oslo.

Lewis Carroll couldn't come up with a character to say something so absurd.

Beyond that, his threat is a veiled threat to start a new intifada, because if the PA internal security (which employs tens of thousands) disappears, all those "policemen" will seek to use their American weapons in other ways, just as they did in 2001. This has been the usual modus operandi among Palestinian Arab leaders since 1920: "Give us what we want or terror will magically break out." They have always acted more like the mob than like political leaders when dealing with other countries.

What a peaceful guy!

(h/t DF)

Erekat spouts lies in response to Israeli YouTube video

This week, Israel's Foreign Ministry put out a video that has spread quickly, called The Truth About the West Bank:

PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who apparently has never resigned even though he claimed he did, lashed out at the video. His sputtering statement has a lot of nonsense, but I want to concentrate on one of his many lies that we have not covered before:

Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat Wednesday expressed his shock at a Youtube video produced by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in which the Israeli Ministry distorts international law regarding the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

“With this video, the Israeli government has left no doubt on its pro-conflict agenda,” said Erekat in a press release....

Erekat continued: “In its desperate attempt to gear international discourse away from the pursuit of genuine peace to the outdated arguments of those who oppose it, this official video went as far as discarding United Nations Resolution 181 (II). I want to remind the government of Israel that it was accepted at the UN as a full member based on its acceptance of this resolution.”

This is a claim that has been made before by anti-Israel activists. Was Israel's acceptance to the UN conditional upon accepting UNGA 181?

The easiest way to find out is to read the text of the resolution accepting Israel itself:

Having received the report of the Security Council on the application of Israel for membership in the United Nations,

Noting that, in the judgment of the Security Council, Israel is a peace-loving State and is able and willing to carry out the obligations contained in the Charter,

Noting that the Security Council has recommended to the general Assembly that it admit Israel to membership in the United Nations,

Noting furthermore the declaration by the State of Israel that it "unreservedly accepts the obligations of the United Nations Charter and undertakes to honour them from the day when it becomes a member of the United Nations,"

Recalling its resolutions of 29 November 1947 and 11 December 1948 and taking note of the declarations and explanations made by the representative of the Government of Israel before the Ad Hoc Political Committee in respect of the implementation of the said resolutions,

The General Assembly,

Acting in discharge of its functions under Article 4 of the Charter and rule 125 of its rules of procedure,

1. Decides that Israel is a peace loving State which accepts the obligations contained in the Charter and is able and willing to carry out those obligations;

2. Decides to admit Israel to membership in the United Nations.

While the resolution "recalls" UNGA 181 and 194 there is no conditional language in this resolution at all. The actionable part of the resolution is unambiguous. Beyond that, the preamble explicitly notes that Israel clarified - at length - its interpretation of those resolutions in a number of now obscure UN documents (here and here, among others.) Abba Eban was, as usual, masterful in explaining Israel's position, and his explanation is referred to in this resolution just as the UNGA resolutions are. The language of the resolution seems to accept Eban's words as being just as important as the texts of the earlier resolutions themselves.

Which means that Erekat is shown yet again to be a liar.

Erekat emerges, adds a new precondition

From JPost:

Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinians need to hear one line from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in order to return to the negotiating table. "There's one line," Erekat told Army Radio Monday, that "negotiations should lead to two states along 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps."

The PA, he repeated, is "waiting to see if Prime Minister Netanyahu says he accepts two states on 1967 lines with agreed swaps. Until we hear that, I think it would be a waste of time to speak about any other issue."

Didn't Erekat resign a few months ago? Or was that just one of the many lies that he likes to tell?

Palestine Papers: Erekat admits he's a liar

I missed this little gem that was picked up by Foreign Policy a couple of weeks ago - another Palestine Paper conversation that inexplicably did not make it into The Guardian or Al Jazeera..

In a meeting between Saeb Erekat and Yossi Gal from Israel's foreign ministry, the conversation starts this way:

SE: How have you been?
YG: Not too bad, can't complain, how about you?
SE: I'm lying, I've been lying for the last weeks.
YG: Between jogging?
SE: No, no, lying, lying. I was in Cairo, I was in Jordan, I was in America. Everybody is asking me what is going on Israel, what is Olmert going to do?
YG: And you are telling everyone we are on the verge of success.
SE: And I always tell them this is an internal Israeli matter, a domestic Israeli matter and I keep lying. If somebody sneezes in Tel-Aviv, I get the flu in Jericho, and I have to lie. So that's my last week -- all lies.
YG: As a professor of negotiations, you know that white lies are allowed now and then.
SE: I'm not complaining, I'm admitting -- and sometimes I don't feel like lying.
YG: Well, around this table we won't be lying.

(h/t tweet by jmalsin)

Saeb Erekat admits that Jews could never become "Palestinians"

Saeb Erekat was on Hardtalk this week. Unfortunately many countries cannot view the full interview at the BBC site.

But this clip is available, and it betrays the bigotry of even the moderate "Palestinian" leadership.

As Erekat dismisses the idea of a one state solution, he says:

I don't think Christian and Muslim Palestinians would convert to Judaism and become Israelis. I don't think that Jews would convert to Islam and Christianity and become Palestinians.

Since there are over a million non-Jews in Israel, his first statement betrays his hate for Israel and his propensity to slander Israel on British TV by implying that it is a Jewish-only state.

But the second statement shows that Erekat believes that Jews cannot ever be citizens of a Palestinian Arab state! Only Christians and Muslims could!

He could have framed it in national terms ("I don't think that Palestinians want to be citizens of Israel; I don't think that Israelis would want to become citizens of a Palestinian state") but instead his terminology shows that the entire Palestinian Arab national project is really about keeping Jews out of "Palestine," and in the short term limiting the areas that Jews could live, not building a state.

Erekat accuses Qatar of investing in Jewish settlements!

The "Palestine Papers" has really caused Saeb Erekat to go off the deep end:

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat threatened Monday to expose official documents about investments he said proved that Qatar holds in companies that operate in illegal Israeli West Bank settlements.

More than 24% of the biggest Israeli companies in the Qarne Shomron settlement, located in the northern West Bank district of Qalqiliya, rely on Qatari investments worth millions of US dollars, said Erekat.

"The time will come in future to reveal these documents," he threatened.

The statement was the latest in a series of accusations targeting the Emir of Qatar Shaykh Hamadi bin Khalifa Ath-Thani, who was singled out for attacks in the wake of a series of aired documentaries on Al-Jazeera, which publicized in Arabic highlights from a set of 1,600 leaked documents from over 10 years of talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Come on, Saeb, release this supposed proof. Why wait? I promise I'll blog prominently about it!

Erekat's speech got even better:

During his speech, Erekat reiterated earlier statements that the PA would officially complain to the International Federation of Journalists, saying that the complaint would be submitted in the following two weeks. The complaint would not "oppose scoops or getting information, but [stress that media] should avoid distortion," he said.

Erekat, master liar, wants the media to avoid distortion?

You can't even parody these clowns.

PA rejects unilateral Israeli proposals

Netanyahu proposes several specific moves to help the PA and its citizens - and the PA rejects them.

From YNet:

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat rejected on Saturday a series of economic incentives proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Quartet envoy Tony Blair.

During their meeting Friday, Netanyahu and Blair agreed on a new Israeli proposal aimed at easing economic and security restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank as part of the effort to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and convince the Palestinians to return to the negotiation table.

The proposal was presented as the committee of the Quartet – made up of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia – prepared to meet in Munich, Germany. It reportedly includes expanding Arab construction in east Jerusalem and giving the Palestinian Authority security powers in seven West Bank cities.

Netanyahu also agreed to begin discussions on the development of a Palestinian Authority gas field adjacent to an Israeli gas field off the coast of Gaza. The PM said future revenues from the Palestinian field will go to the PA.

Erekat said the proposal "is just a trick and procrastination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."

"What Netanyahu should do, if he wants to build confidence, is immediately stop settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and recognize a Palestinian state on the territories occupied in 1967,” the Palestinian news agency Ma'an quoted the chief negotiator as saying.

Once again, the "hawkish, right-wing" Israeli is the one making concrete suggestions for moving along the peace process - suggestions that could be worth missions of dollars - and the "moderate, flexible" PA is rejecting it.

And there's more:

Addressing the dramatic political developments in the Arab World, Erekat said "what is driving the region to violence and extremism is the continued occupation and Israeli insistence to maintain the settlement enterprise."

Why does anyone take this guy seriously anymore? Seriously!

The Palestinian Arab leaders are just babies who want all or nothing - and they complain when their enemies want to give them stuff for free that would help their own citizens.

And the West will ignore this further evidence of Palestinian Arab intransigence as they always have, because it doesn't fit the meme.

Wikileaks adds some support to "Palestine Papers"

From a Wikileaks cable, July 2008, at the height of the negotiations between Kadima and Fatah that have been discussed in the "Palestine Papers:"

Saeb Erekat said the GOI and PA are working on all permanent status issues, noting that the two sides “are farther along than we were at Camp David or at Taba.” He said the negotiators will need President Abbas and PM Olmert to “make the hard political decisions.”

Erekat said the PA is committed to finishing a permanent status framework, defining solutions to all permanent status issues, by the end of 2008. He said he is committed to meeting Israeli security requirements, but wants to do so through a mutually-agreed third-party security force rather than an Israeli military presence in the future Palestinian state.

This is entirely consistent with what we have read in the parts of the "Palestine Papers" we've seen. It indicates that both sides were more flexible than they were in 2001.

The highlighted part hints at an intriguing idea: Mahmoud Abbas may have been purposefully kept out of the loop of the negotiations, allowing the PA negotiators a lot of latitude to find common ground but keeping plausible deniability and veto power if necessary. In this way he could maintain his public rejectionist rhetoric.

In that same cable we also see that

Fayyad said the PA feels unsupported by Arab states, despite their favorable rhetoric.

I've pointed this out for years - the Arab leaders' support for "Palestine" has never been sincere but largely rhetorical. This has only escalated since the Fatah/Hamas split, which Fayyad also touched on:

He argued that unless the PA regains control of Gaza’s crossings, “Gaza will be gone forever.”

Erekat: "If memos are true, why is there no agreement?"

Saeb Erekat gave a rambling, sputtering statement slamming Al Jazeera for publishing the so-called "Palestine Papers" that show an inside look at the negotiations between the PLO and Israel.

Besides his conspiracy theories about Al Jazeera, he rhetorically asked more than once, "If our positions are as they claim, why didn't Israel agree and why we did we not reach an agreement with them?" In other words, Erekat is admitting that Israel would have taken the offers seriously, as opposed to how The Guardian is spinning it!

Most of his rant is aimed at Al Jazeera and the vast conspiracy that is behind the channel.

Some highlights:

Al Jazeera's shame is unprecedented in Arab history....

The Palestinian Authority cannot solve the refugee issue; it is up to the refugee to decide to return to the territories of 1948, or the State of Palestine, or to accept compensation. This is the official Palestinian position, we do not agree with Israel on anything concerning this.

Al Jazeera is part of a terribly serious criminal act, planning to destabilize the Palestinian people, whether in Jordan or Palestine or Lebanon or Saudi Arabia...such incitement is serious.

What is going on is the process of punishment for our steadfastness and our positions, especially after we went to the UN Security Council and our refusal to negotiate with Israel without a halt to settlement activity, which has always been what we insisted and we will continue to uphold our rights as approved by international law.

Everything published so far does not exceed two or three pages that were cherry-picked with malicious intent to destroy the position of the steadfast Palestinian negotiators on our inalienable rights according to international law.

[Al Jazeera's] aim is to topple the Palestinian Authority because we refuse to return to negotiations and refuse to continue the negotiations while there is continued settlement [construction] and we insist on going to the UN Security Council and we wants the world to recognize the state of Palestine.

Al-Jazeera planned this...The selectivity and distortion, alteration, and forgery is apparent in every aspect.

We will reveal all our documents and challenge them to publish them.

A group of lawyers is now considering how to deal with the theft of these documents.

The media machine (referring to Al Jazeera) and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to tarnish our reputation.

If our positions are as they claim, why didn't Israel agree and why we did we not reach an agreement with them?

Al Jazeera calls for a... revolution against the Palestinian Authority to bring down the Palestinian political system.

This region is moving toward a more dangerous situation .. not only in Palestine...there are plans in Washington and elsewhere for this region and this tool (Al Jazeera) has a very large role to play in this direction.

These documents are incitement to murder and assassination, this may lead us to go to what is more than an ordinary court.

What is being done by Al Jazeera is done on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu and Lieberman and Washington as a nasty incitement....

This incitement comes from the administration of Al Jazeera and those who stand behind them. We have lots and lots of documents that will show who is behind this channel .. these documents are not forged, but the truth .. [showing] what is going on between them and the Americans and Israelis.

Erekat lies yet again

From YNet:

Hours after Russian President Dmitri Medvedev declared his country recognizes an independent Palestinian state, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat described the statement as "an historic move to make the Palestinians proud for a very long time to come."

Medvedev said Tuesday during a visit to Jericho that Moscow had effectively recognized Palestine back in 1988 and has no intention of changing its position now. He noted that all would benefit from the establishment of a Palestinian state, including the Israelis.

Talking to Ynet Erekat noted, "We appreciate the Russian recognition of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders whose capital is east Jerusalem."

Medvedev didn't say a word about "1967 borders." He simply said that Russia continues to recognize "Palestine" in the way that the Soviet Union did in 1988, which didn't mention borders at all and which was pretty much ignored by the world community at the time. But it is hardly the first time Erekat has been caught lying.

The YNet article does mention that Israel's Foreign Ministry strike is severely hampering Israel's efforts to fight this latest wave of PLO diplomatic victories. One result is that Medvedev didn't even visit Israel. This strike is really hurting Israel and it needs to be resolved quickly.