Middle East Erekat quits over Palestine Papers Chief Palestinian negotiator resigns, saying source of Al Jazeera's revelations was in his own office.
Last Modified: 12 Feb 2011 16:05 GMT PA officials were angered by the Palestine Papers, which exposed concessions to Israel in secret peace talks [EPA] Saeb Erekat, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's chief negotiator, has resigned from his post, after it emerged that the source of the Palestine Papers leak was in his own office. The decision was announced on Saturday, at the same time as a Palestinian Authority (PA) official announced that the body would be holding presidential and legislative elections before September this year. Erekat said his resignation came as a result of an internal investigation into the Palestine Papers, a set of leaked documents that was released by Al Jazeera. Erekat, who has retained his position in the PLO's executive committee, said the investigation showed that the papers were leaked from the Negotiations Support Unit, which he heads. Earlier, he had said he would bear all responsibility if any security breach was found in his office. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, welcomed the resignation, saying that negotiations led by Erekat had not been "in the national interest". Elections called The news of Erekat's resignation almost overshadowed the PA's election announcement. "The Palestinian leadership decided to hold presidential and legislative elections before September," Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president, said. Rabbo said the PA was urging all sides to "put their differences aside", in a reference to the West Bank-based government's rival Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas has rejected the call for elections. "They cannot do an election in the West Bank, leaving Gaza. Without internal Palestinian reconciliation, nothing can happen here or there. The people who are supporting Hamas in the West Bank are representing the majority of the Palestinian people, and they will not participate," Hamas' Zahar told Al Jazeera. "Hamas will not take part in this election. We will not give it legitimacy. And we will not recognise the results," Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, told the Reuters news agency. He termed the process "invalid", saying that Abbas had "no legitimacy and is not fit to organise such elections. Members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee said they saw the elections as an opportunity to end divisions. Bassam Salhi, a member of the Palestinian People's Party, said that whoever gains a majority after the elections will be empowered to make decisions on unresolved issues, including security. Erekat's 'responsibility' Announcing his resignation on Saturday, Erekat said that he was assuming "responsibility for the theft of [the] documents from his office", which he claimed had been "deliberately" tampered with. Last month, Erekat accused Al Jazeera of taking part in a campaign to overthrow the PA after more than 1,600 confidential files on the negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli officials were made public by the network. The documents, shared by Al Jazeera with the UK's Guardian newspaper, exposed concessions to Israel in 10 years of secret peace talks, embarrassing and angering the PA leadership. At the time, Erekat accused Al Jazeera of attempting to discredit the peace process and provoke people into "a revolution against their leaders in order to bring down the Palestinian political system". He insisted that the PA's position on Jerusalem, refugees and borders during peace negotiations were based on internationally recognised principles. ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
