Al-Jazeera releases more 'Palestine Papers'
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The Qatar-based broadcaster Al- Jazeera launched Monday a second cache of documents quoting Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as saying it would be "illogical" to ask Israel to absorb five million refugees as part of a final peace deal.
The leaked files said that Abbas privately acknowledged the return of even one million refugees would mean "the end of Israel" and does not seem practical.
According to the documents, not only did Palestinian officials offer a low figure of returnees, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saed Erekat said that "refugees would not have voting rights on a possible peace deal with Israel."
The new documents also showed that in the course of peace talks in 2008 and 2009, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni proposed moving several Arab villages now in Israel into a future Palestinian state as part of a land-swap deal for West Bank Jewish settlements.
The Arab satellite news channel launched a first cache of new documents on Sunday.
Al-Jazeera said it has obtained nearly 1,700 documents, maps and minutes of decade-long records of negotiations.
The Arab satellite news channel said the leaks cover more than 10 years of secret talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
The documents also showed Abbas was warned in advance of Israel 's 2008 invasion of Gaza.
Al-Jazeera did not say how it obtained the documents, however, it said Sunday on its website, "Over the last several months, Al- Jazeera has been given unhindered access to the largest-ever leak of confidential documents related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
The Palestinian-Israeli peace talks have reached a deadlock due to a dispute over Jewish settlement construction, with the Palestinians refusing to return to the negotiating table until Israel halts settlement building.
