Erekat fears for life after leaks

PALESTINIAN negotiator Saeb Erekat has accused al-Jazeera TV of putting his life in danger by leaking secret papers on the peace talks with Israel, reported BBC on Wednesday. The documents suggest the Palestinians were ready to make big concessions, despite public claims to the contrary. But in an interview with the BBC, Mr Erekat admitted that some of the material was true. He had initially dismissed it as a pack of lies. He has vowed to take responsibility if the leaks came from his office. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has been rocked by the revelations which show that in private meetings with Israeli negotiators, Palestinian negotiators appeared to offer compromises on issues including the status of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Mr Erekat has featured prominently in al-Jazeeras coverage of what it says are 1,600 documents related to the Middle East peace process. The Qatar-based channel started publishing the documents this week, along with the UKs Guardian newspaper. Today what is being practised against us [by the al-Jazeera coverage] is that we are guilty, we should be executed, and then after our execution, we should be given an unfair trial, he told the BBC on Wednesday, following his return to Ramallah from meetings in Cairo. The latest cache of papers revealed on Tuesday suggested that the PA co-operated with Israeli security officials to kill its own people.

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