The Palestine Papers and the "Gaza coup"

[P F Tinmore]

In February 2007, after months of clashes between their supporters, Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a "national unity government" headed by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Enraged by this, the US government hatched a plot, along with Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, to engage Hamas militarily in Gaza. But the plot failed and in June 2007 Hamas turned the tables and overran Dahlan's US-supported militias.

Until now, the most comprehensive and essential account of these events was contained in David Rose's April 2008 Vanity Fair article, The Gaza Bombshell | Politics | Vanity Fair

An initial reading of the Palestine Papers supports Rose's account and provides details of hitherto unknown secret, high-level "Quadripartite" meetings among Israeli, American, Egyptian and Palestinian officials whose explicit goal appears to have been to undermine the national unity government. The essential point here is that part of the PA -- loyal to Mahmoud Abbas and backed by the US -- was actively plotting with Israel and its allies against the legitimately-constituted unity government.

Two documents in the Palestine Papers contain minutes of these meetings. The first is dated 11 March 2007 and titled "Quadripartite Meeting of the Gaza Security Committee."

The Palestinians in attendance were Dahlan, Jamal Quaeid, Rashid Abu Shbak, Basil Jaber and one more whose name has been redacted by Al Jazeera. The American team was headed by US Army Lt. General Keith Dayton, the Israeli team by General Amos Gilad and the Egyptian team by one General Sharif.

This first meeting was intended to establish the "quadirpartite forum" and lay down "rules of engagement." Firstly it was agreed that only Gaza would be discussed, not the West Bank.

Secrecy was to be the top priority. According to the rules of engagement, "All parties made very clear that nothing discussed in the meeting should be shared with anyone outside the forum. All parties made clear that any leakages would greatly hurt the forum and all those participating. All parties made clear that any leakages would immediately result in the cessation of the use of this forum and the projects being aborted. Also not to be shared is the fact that the forum exists, nor should who is attending the meetings be leaked. The press will not be involved."

ei: The Palestine Papers and the "Gaza coup"

 

[georgephillip]

Egypt's Medal

"During a discussion of Egypt's role, Israeli General Amos Gilad had high praise for Egypt's repressive state security services.

"'I always believed in the abilities of the Egyptian Intelligence service [GIS]," he said. It keeps order and security among 70 millions -- 20 millions in one city -- this is a great achievement, for which you deserve a medal.

"'It is the best asset for the middle east.'"

The Palestine Papers

 

[P F Tinmore]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Informed Israeli sources said that Israel offered Egyptian intelligence director Omar Suleiman its readiness to help Egypt and carry out operations to quell the people's revolution and demanded him to prevent the alleged arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip.

Quds Press quoted the sources as affirming that Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday during a phone call with Suleiman, who was sworn in as vice president a couple of days ago, expressed his fears over the situation in Egypt and offered him intelligence and security services to end the protests.

Israel offers Egypt services to control popular uprising

 

[LadyGunSlinger]

Those stupid letters were proven to be FAKES- Sent from yahoo mail by an anonymous author using android. The continual propaganda spewed by Hamas Daily here or Aryan Cenrtal is laughable.


Palestine Papers: Fake letter from "Palestinian businessmen" to Obama
In the trove of so-called "Palestine Papers," we find a draft letter that was supposedly written by anonymous "Palestinian businessmen" was written to then-President Elect Obama.

The letter was obviously drafted by the PLO, as it echoes similar letters ghost-written by Abbas to Obama in the same time period.

This is a cynical ploy, akin to presenting a petition with fake names. It is a good example of the deception that the PLO uses when trying to influence world leaders. Even more cynical is that the fake "businessmen" can tell baldfaced lies to Obama without being called out for being liars - something that the PLO negotiators cannot do directly. Some are highlighted below.



Here's the link for more:
Elder of Ziyon: Palestine Papers: Fake letter from "Palestinian businessmen" to Obama

 

[P F Tinmore]

 

[Ropey]

The 'Palestine Paper' that got away...

In another bombshell document that the Guardian and Al Jazeera did not believe is newsworthy, in 2008 the PLO wrote a paper describing the legal rights of Jews to lands that they owned prior to 1948.

The intent was to have a position ready in case Israel brought the issue up in negotiations. It was not presented to Israel.

It is astonishing to read paragraphs like these from the PLO

Jews who owned land have the right to have their land restored to them or to be compensated, if restitution is not materially possible. Jews are entitled to compensation for other material and non-material losses, including lost profits, lost income, etc. caused by their displacement and dispossession.

Of course, they hold this position because they do not want to appear hypocritical with their demands from Israel. (The PLO also includes an annex to list legal arguments that Jews do not have any rights to the land anymore, in case they need to use those arguments publicly.)[/quote]

Some of the parts are fascinating. For example, it describes (and implicitly supports) the bigoted British policy of severely restricting the rights of Jews - and only Jews - to buy land before 1948.

In 1940, in response to Arab concerns regarding Jewish land ownership in Palestine, the British introduced restrictions on land transfers to Jews. Pursuant to the Palestine (Amendment) Order-in-Council of 25 May 1939, the High Commissioner was authorized to prohibit and regulate land transfers.

Acting on these powers, the High Commissioner adopted the Land Transfer Regulations, 1940, which established three zones: Zone A (16,680 km2), where land could generally not be transferred except to Palestinian Arabs; Zone B (8,348 km2), where land transfers from Arabs to Jews required permission that was generally withheld; and land outside Zones A and B (1,292 km2), which could be freely transferred.

According to the hand-drawn map annexed to the Regulations, what became Gaza and the West Bank was entirely Zone A, meaning that land transfers to Jews were, with few exceptions, prohibited.25 Britain apparently repealed these Regulations upon the termination of its Mandate (12 May 1948)

Between 1948 and 1967, Jordan and Egypt essentially confiscated Jewish-owned land, against international humanitarian law:

The Custodian [of Enemy Property] held and administered Jewish-owned in the West Bank until 1967 according to the Trading with the Enemy Ordinance (as opposed to administering the land like absentee property according to the powers and rules of IHL).

Some of these assets were used by the Custodian for public purposes, such as the establishment of refugee camps, the rehabilitation of refugees, and the setting up of army camps and marketplaces. In other cases, the property was leased to private individuals, who used the land for agricultural, commercial or residential purposes, depending on its characteristics.

By the Order Providing Regulations for the Administration of Jews’ Property in the Areas Subject to the Control of the Egyptian Forces in Palestine (issued in 1948, published in 1950), Egypt appointed a Director General to administer property owned by Jews who fled in 1948. The Director General used the parcels for public projects, including refugee camps for Palestine Arabs, or leased them for private uses.

Finally, the document describes some specific lands indisputably owned by Jews - even according to the Palestinian Arabs.

Land located on Mount Scopus...was purchased from a British national in 1916. Boris Goldberg, a member of Lovers of Zion, paid for the land and took title in his name.

He gifted the land to the JNF, which gave a 999-year lease to Hebrew University.

Additional land was purchased on Mount Scopus from Raghib al-Nashashibi, Mayor of Jerusalem, and was used for the Hebrew University. Hadassah Hospital was also built on land purchased on Mount Scopus.

By 1946, the JNF acquired 72,300 dunums in the Gaza district, which encompassed more than present-day Gaza.

In 1930, a Jewish farmer from Rehovot, Tuvia Miller, bought 262 dunums of land in Dayr al-Balah in the Gaza sub-district. Miller eventually sold his land to the JNF in the early 1940s. The JNF then allowed settlers from the religious Ha-Poel ha-Mizrahi movement to build the kibbutz of Kfar Darom on the land in October 1946. They abandoned the kibbutz in June 1948

Stein reports a purchase of 4,048 dunums in Huj (Gaza sub-district) in 1935 but does not indicate the identity of the Jewish purchaser.60 Note, however, that the Palestine Partition Commission reported that, by 1938, only 3,300 dunums in Gaza were owned by Jews

In 1941, 6,373 dunums were purchased by the JNF around Gaza City, though it is unknown whether the purchase was permissible under the Land Transfer Regulations 1940.

The government of Palestine estimated a population of 3,540 Jews in the Gaza sub-district at the end of 1946. Information has not been found on the circumstances under which these Jews departed from Gaza in 1948.

There were Jewish settlements north of Jerusalem called Atarot and Neve Yaakov, which were evacuated in 1948.

A settlement called Bet Haarava, and Palestine Potash, Ltd., both located at the northern end of the Dead Sea, were situated on miri land leased by the government of Palestine and were evacuated in 1948.66

During the 1920s and 1930s, individual Jews and two Jewish-owned realty companies, Zikhron David and El Hahar, bought land in the hills around Hebron.

Notwithstanding (and, actually, because of) the Land Transfer Regulations, 1940, which placed nearly all of the West Bank in Zone A, the JNF began purchasing land around Hebron in 1940. It acquired about 8,400 dunums by 1947, some of which was purchased from individual Jews and from Zikhron David and El Hahar. The settlements established on this land were called Kfar Etzion, Masuot Yitzhak, Ein Tzurim and Revadim. The JNF circumvented the prohibition on acquisition of land by Jews by creating front companies. Most of the Jewish-owned land around Hebron was held, as of 1948, by the JNF rather than by individual Jewish owners.

Some 16,000 dunums of land were purchased by Jews before 1948 in the Etzion Bloc and Beit Hadassah.

Himnuta bought land near Jericho and present-day Ma’ale Adumim. The funding in urban areas usually came from state coffers, while the purchase of agricultural land was paid for by the JNF.

During the British mandate, the government of Palestine leased miri land on a long-term basis (50 or 100 years) to Jewish settlement organisations.

By 1948, the concentrations of lands owned by Jews were in the old Jewish quarters of Jerusalem and Hebron, on the periphery of Jerusalem, and in the Tul-Karem region and the Gaza Strip.

* Apparently, 80% of Har Homa’s [Jabal Abu Ghneim’s] land is Jewish land purchased in the forties and before.

The JNF lost land in the Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank as well, and this matter has been postponed for the eventual [peace] talks for over a decade.

Now, why wouldn't The Guardian or its partner Al Jazeera want to write about a paper that details Jewish legal rights to lands in the territories?

Could it be that these "news" organizations are more interested in manipulating the news rather than reporting it?

This paper doesn't merely hurt the PLO, as most of the papers that made The Guardian's pages were intended to do, but the entire Palestinian Arab national movement - and that's a big taboo in the newsroom of The Guardian. (Not to mention the inconvenient fact that Great Britain made laws specifically banning land sales to people based merely on their religion. Slightly embarrassing, no?)

This is one of the Palestine Papers stories they wanted to remain buried.

The worst violation of the UN in its entire history is the multi-state Arab attacks on the UN re-restablished state of Israel.

Why was there no UN Resolution on these Arab attacks, perpetrated with a declared goal of genocide - even after the attacking states VOTED in the UN Motion? Guess why the attacks continue!

Because they want peace? Look at what our Saudi poster says. Not peace. Destruction of Israel.

its existence will not last forever. soon you will attend its funeral.

you know what Hezbollah said about israel " it is weaker than a spider's web"

 

[P F Tinmore]

WOW, Israel sure screwed a lot of people.

 

[P F Tinmore]

 

[Ropey]

 

[P F Tinmore]

 

[P F Tinmore]

After the coup:

1. The president was still the president.
2. The prime minister was still the prime minister.
3. No cabinet ministers were changed.
4. No members of parliament were changed.
5. There were no changes in the judiciary.
6. No laws were changed.
7. The constitution was still in force.

Yes it was a unique coup, indeed.

 

[docmauser1]

After the coup:

1. The president was still the president.
2. The prime minister was still the prime minister.
3. No cabinet ministers were changed.
4. No members of parliament were changed.
5. There were no changes in the judiciary.
6. No laws were changed.
7. The constitution was still in force.

Yes it was a unique coup, indeed.

Everything is unique about our occupational "palistanians", indeed.

 

[Ropey]

After the coup:

1. The president was still the president.
2. The prime minister was still the prime minister.
3. No cabinet ministers were changed.
4. No members of parliament were changed.
5. There were no changes in the judiciary.
6. No laws were changed.
7. The constitution was still in force.

Yes it was a unique coup, indeed.

Coup attempt. When they failed, the Hamas ran to Gaza. Remember? Arabs seldom with the fights they start. You know that PF.

 

[P F Tinmore]

After the coup:

1. The president was still the president.
2. The prime minister was still the prime minister.
3. No cabinet ministers were changed.
4. No members of parliament were changed.
5. There were no changes in the judiciary.
6. No laws were changed.
7. The constitution was still in force.

Yes it was a unique coup, indeed.

Coup attempt. When they failed, the Hamas ran to Gaza. Remember? Arabs seldom with the fights they start. You know that PF.

Hamas is the elected government in office. Why a coup?

 

[Ropey]

On the presidency. Are you truly that ignorant of the political structure of the Palestinians?

You really need to research.

 

[High_Gravity]

After the coup:

1. The president was still the president.
2. The prime minister was still the prime minister.
3. No cabinet ministers were changed.
4. No members of parliament were changed.
5. There were no changes in the judiciary.
6. No laws were changed.
7. The constitution was still in force.

Yes it was a unique coup, indeed.

Coup attempt. When they failed, the Hamas ran to Gaza. Remember? Arabs seldom with the fights they start. You know that PF.

Hamas is the elected government in office. Why a coup?

Hamas only controls Gaza, and even that they had to fight Fatah out and take it by force.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Coup attempt. When they failed, the Hamas ran to Gaza. Remember? Arabs seldom with the fights they start. You know that PF.

Hamas is the elected government in office. Why a coup?

Hamas only controls Gaza, and even that they had to fight Fatah out and take it by force.

Why would they fight Fatah out? Fatah lost the elections...nation wide. They shouldn't even be in the West Bank.

 

[High_Gravity]

Hamas is the elected government in office. Why a coup?

Hamas only controls Gaza, and even that they had to fight Fatah out and take it by force.

Why would they fight Fatah out? Fatah lost the elections...nation wide. They shouldn't even be in the West Bank.

Are you trying to tell me you didn't see the pics of Hamas members throwing Fatah members off of buildings and chasing them in the streets back in 2007? you think Fatah left Gaza willingly?

 

[P F Tinmore]

Hamas only controls Gaza, and even that they had to fight Fatah out and take it by force.

Why would they fight Fatah out? Fatah lost the elections...nation wide. They shouldn't even be in the West Bank.

Are you trying to tell me you didn't see the pics of Hamas members throwing Fatah members off of buildings and chasing them in the streets back in 2007? you think Fatah left Gaza willingly?

Fatah did not leave Gaza.

Gaza starts at 13:16