But The Palestine Papers reveal that Israel had no reason to halt construction in Ramat Shlomo. That's because Palestinian negotiators agreed in 2008 to allow Israel to annex this settlement, along with almost every other bit of illegal construction in the Jerusalem area an historic concession for which they received nothing in return.
(continued, see the full article HERE)********
Excerpt from Erekat's solution for the Haram:
Saeb Erekat, the chief negotiator of the Palestinian Authority (PA), had suggested unprecedented compromises on the division of Jerusalem and its holy sites, the Palestine Papers obtained by Al Jazeera show.
Minutes of negotiations at the US State Department in Washington DC indicate that Erekat was willing to concede control over the Haram al-Sharif, or Temple Mount, to the oversight of an international committee.
The highly controversial issue of who controls the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), home of the Al Aqsa mosque - Islam's third holiest site - has been a major sticking point during decades of negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians.
Israel calls the Haram al-Sharif the "Temple Mount" because Jews believe it was the site of the Second Temple destroyed during Roman times. In recent years, Jewish settler groups -" some with close ties to the Israeli government -" have advocated building a "Third Temple", which would necessitate the destruction of the existing Muslim holy sites.
The site has often been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On October 8, 1990, Israeli forces shot dead 21 Palestinian civilians at the Haram al-Sharif. The Palestinians, whom Israel said were throwing stones at Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall below the Haram, were protesting plans by a settler group called the Temple Mount Faithful to lay a cornerstone for the Third Temple.
Palestinians have accused Israel of trying to undermine the foundations of the al-Aqsa mosque through what Israel describes as archaeological excavations. In September 1996, Israel opened what it called a tourist tunnel along the foundations of the Haram, touching off violence that left dozens of people dead -" the vast majority of them Palestinians.
In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, the then-Israeli opposition leader, visited the Haram al-Sharif accompanied by hundreds of armed Israeli police. Palestinian protests at what was seen as a provocation, and Israel's armed response to them, marked the beginning of the second Palestinian Intifada.
(continued, see the full article HERE)
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The Palestine Papers include a rendering of the Israeli land swap map presented in mid-2008 to Mahmoud Abbas.
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