Yesterday Qatar-based international news network Al-Jazeera (who Israel accuses of having an Anti-Israel bias) revealed that they have acquired thousands of papers and documents detailing secret peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over the past ten years. Al-Jazeera claims that the information they’ve obtained, which they nicknamed the “Palestinian Papers”, detail how the Palestinians made several concessions that observers previously believed they would not make so easily.
- Al-Jazeera mentioned that they plan to release the information they’ve obtained between January 23 and January 26.
Unsurprisingly, Palestinian leadership is not happy about news of a major documents leak. The Jerusalem Post quotes a high-level Palestinian Authority official stating that “Al-Jazeera has declared war on the Palestinians”. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wondered how Al-Jazeera obtained the documents and denied accusations that they made several of the concessions mentioned in the documents.
The documents released so far provide information on the recent state of negotiations relating to some issues that have Bible prophecy implications like the control of the Temple Mount and the fate of East Jerusalem. Today I’ll highlight what has been reported regarding these two issues and discuss the potential impact that this major documents leak may have.
The Temple Mount
As I wrote last week, the construction of the Third Temple would be a signal that major events would soon take place. Logically, one would expect that there would have to be some agreement with how the Temple Mount is be used before the construction of the Third Temple since it is a heavily disputed location between Jews and Muslims.
The documents Al-Jazeera obtained suggest that a conversation concerning how to divide control of the Old City, the part of Jerusalem where the Temple Mount is located, took place in October 2009. During the conversation Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat allegedly expressed a willingness to have a political body or committee decide how the land on the heavily-disputed Temple Mount is used to U.S. State Department legal advisor Jonathan Schwartz:
Erekat: “It’s solved. You have the Clinton Parameters formula. For the Old City sovereignty for Palestine, except the Jewish quarter and part of the Armenian quarter … the Haram can be left to be discussed - there are creative ways, having a body or a committee, having undertakings for example not to dig [excavations under the Al Aqsa mosque]. The only thing I cannot do is convert to Zionism.”
Schwartz: To confirm to Sen. Mitchell, [this is] your private idea …
Erekat: This conversation is in my private capacity.
Schwartz: We’ve heard the idea from others. So you’re not the first to raise it.
Erekat: Others are not the chief negotiator of the PLO.
Although the above excerpt suggests that Palestinian leadership was open to having a political body like the United Nations decide what to do with the Temple Mount, there was no firm agreement on whether to actually delegate control of the Temple Mount to a political body or committee. The Temple Mount issue would be open to negotiation.
The documents also suggest that Israel was open to multilateral negotiations concerning the control of the Temple Mount. The documents report that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians concerning the Temple Mount be overseen by the United States, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
The idea that Israel and the Palestinians were both open to have many sides involved in deciding the fate of the Temple Mount perhaps makes it easier to envision how the “covenant with many” mentioned in Daniel 9:27 can come about eventually: the negotiations of the future may involve the input of many sides (although the countries participating in future negotiations may not exactly be the same countries that Olmert proposed).
East Jerusalem
The issue of Israel’s construction of settlements in East Jerusalem would probably have to be resolved before both sides and other sides agree to a “covenant with many” mentioned in Daniel 9:27. The reason is that Israel’s construction of settlements is something Israel believes it is entitled to since it captured the territory in the Six-Day War while critics believe it is illegal. It’s hard to imagine how an overall Middle East peace deal could be agreed to without the resolution of this salient issue for the parties involved.
Al-Jazeera reports that the Palestinians proposed to recognize all Israeli’s settlements in Jerusalem, including settlements located in East Jerusalem except for one. The following statement is allegedly from former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei from a June 2008 meeting:
This last proposition could help in the swap process. We proposed that Israel annexes all settlements in Jerusalem except Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa). This is the first time in history that we make such a proposition; we refused to do so in Camp David.
Talks reportedly came to a standstill when Israel and the Palestinians failed to reach an agreement on what to do with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The Potential Impact of the Palestinian Papers
People generally leak information to the media when they are displeased about something that is going on privately. The Palestinian Papers appear to be one of these cases. Al-Jazeera has so far utilized the leaked documents from what is believed to be a disgruntled Palestinian insider to portray the Palestinian leadership as weak by suggesting that the Palestinians were willing to offer unprecedented compromises to Israel in exchange for very little in return. In addition, a BBC reporter based in Jerusalem mentioned that Palestinian Papers would work to reinforce many Palestinians’ views that their leadership is weak and ineffective.
- The focus of the news coverage about the Palestinian Papers so far is mainly about what the Palestinians were willing to concede to Israel. Much less attention is focused on what Israel was willing to concede, which is something that Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev mentioned in a recent BBC radio interview. Perhaps Israel also made significant concessions in these secret peace negotiations and the Palestinians reciprocated with their own concessions or counteroffers. We may not fully know what was offered and what was not because perhaps not all documents were leaked-only those that make the Palestinians look bad might have been leaked. Nevertheless, the one-sidedness of the information available creates the perception that the Palestinians are the weak party in these negotiations.
In contrast, Israeli-based military intelligence website DEBKAfile offers a critique of the documents released so far. DEBKA does not believe the leaked documents offer any new insight about what was going on behind the scenes between Israel and the Palestinians (of course DEBKA is tracking the Mideast situation far more closely than the average person so what seems like “new revelations” to the average person can easily be nothing new to them). However, DEBKA agrees that the leaked documents are intended to undermine the support for the current Palestinian leadership by portraying them as weak and suggests that the leaked documents do nothing to help the stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Nevertheless, the documents released so far remind us of how complicated and difficult it is for a Middle East peace deal to arise. The Israelis and Palestinians were reportedly negotiating what to do with at least the following salient items (there are probably several other that aren’t listed below):
- Recognition of Israel’s control/claim of East Jerusalem
- The fate of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem
- The fate of Israeli settlements in the West Bank
- The control of the Temple Mount
- A future Palestinian state and its borders
Ultimately, the Antichrist may be the individual who will finally bridges the gap between Israel, the Palestinians, and other interested parties. After all, the Bible says “he” shall confirm the covenant with many:
- Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
