The Palestine papers: the documents

The Palestine papers: Rice's refugee suggestion

At three-way talks in Berlin in 2008, the US secretary of state floats the idea of resettling Palestinian refugees in Chile and Argentina

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You mean like kidnapping an Israeli?

Ahmed Qureia

A rare joke from Ahmed Qureia. Livni is referring to Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in 2006 and held by Hamas ever since. The soldier, whose release has been the subject of protracted negotiations, has become an icon in Israeli society

We need to make sure...

Tzipi Livni

Livni is raising concerns that European money pumped into Gaza for infrastructure and humanitarian projects could shore up Hamas


The downside...

Tzipi Livni

Here Livni is acknowledging the dangers of the negotiators moving ahead of public opinion on the key issues of territory, security, refugees and Jerusalem. At the end of the 2000 Camp David Summit, the then prime minister Ehud Barak was accused to giving away too much to the Palestinians - and was thrown out of office the following year.



Now I can't say that anymore unfortunately

Condoleezza Rice

Rice is referring to the enormous resources that the US has channelled into anti-terrorist activity in the post 9/11 world - not just in America itself but across the globe.



I don't want to hide my obligations

Ahmed Qureia

This exchange illustrates Ahmed Qureia's anxieties over committing to paper details of how the Palestinian Authority would deal with militants. He does not want to be accused of abandoning resistance to the Israeli occupation and turning on his own people.


We disagree on restitution in kind

Tal Becker

Becker is saying that if Israel agrees to the restitution of pre-1948 Palestinian property, it would be interpreted as an acknowledgment of the Palestinian version of events in 1948 - the Nakba, or catastrophe, in which Arabs were forced off their land with violence or the threat of violence.

Maybe Chile and Argentina can contribute

Condoleezza Rice

According to this minute, the US secretary of state makes the surprising suggestion that South American countries could find room to take in Palestinian refugees

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