Israel Matzav

'Palestinian Authority' received advance notice of Operation Cast Lead?

The latest installment in Palileaks suggests that the 'Palestinian Authority' had advance notice that Israel was going to undertake Operation Cast Lead in December 2008. No kidding.

In defending their handling of the Gaza war, Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president, has long held that the PA warned Hamas - both in Gaza and through its Syrian-based leadership - that Israel was planning an attack on Gaza.

The PA always maintained that their information was only based on Israeli press reports; however, minutes of meetings between the PA and Israeli leaders tell a different story.

The Palestine Papers show that Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian Authority negotiator, told George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, in a meeting on October 21, 2009 that Amos Gilad, the director of Israeli military intelligence, alerted Abbas prior to the Gaza attack.

Erekat: […] Our trust with the [Israeli] government is zero. Amos [Gilad] spoke to Lieberman [the Israeli foreign minister] - told them about the claim that Abu Mazen [Abbas] was colluding with them in the Gaza war. He went to Abu Mazen before the attack and asked him. Abu Mazen replied that he will not go to Gaza on an Israeli tank. Amos Gilad testified about that. He was honest. So we can maintain the channel.

The Palestine Papers confirm here what was previously revealed by second hand sources that were quoted in some of the thousands of US State Department cables published by WikiLeaks in December last year.

Among the diplomatic cables is a report from June 2009 on a conversation between Bob Casey, a US senator, Gary Ackerman, a US representative, and Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister.

In the report, the US officials said that Barak explained, that the "GOI [Government Of Israel] had consulted with Egypt and Fatah prior to the Gaza war, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas.

"Not surprisingly, Barak said, the GOI received negative answers from both," the document states.

Confronted with these leaks, Erekat disputed Barak's account. "We knew about the war because the Israelis were saying there was going to be a war," Erekat told The Associated Press news agency. But "there were never any actual consultations between us and the Israelis before the war," Erekat maintained.

The Palestine Papers show, however, that Gilad, who continues to serve the Israeli government as an adviser to Barak, held several conversations with PA negotiators on the situation in Gaza prior to the war.

This is the mild stuff. I can't wait until they discuss whether the 'Palestinian Authority' was helping Israel identify Hamas targets in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. There were rumors during the war that was going on. If it turns out to be true, that will be a blockbuster revelation.

Heh.

Labels: Bob Casey, Gary Ackerman, Mahmoud Abbas, Operation Cast Lead, Palileaks, Politics, Saeb Erekat, World Politics

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:17 PM