PA official: J'lem talks taking place openly and secretly
Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 13, 2008
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Hatem Abdel Qader, the Jerusalem affairs adviser to Palestinian Authority
Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, confirmed Tuesday that Jerusalem is one of the
issues currently being discussed by Israeli and PA negotiators.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Abdel Qader said Jerusalem "is not
only on the table, it's also under the table."

Asked to explain the second part of his remark, he said: "This means that
the negotiations with the Israelis are taking place both openly and
secretly."
The Palestinians made it clear during the negotiations they were insisting
on a full Israeli withdrawal from the eastern part of Jerusalem that was
captured by Israel in 1967.

"Jerusalem is one of the main core issues," Abdel Qader, who is also a top
Fatah leader, told the Post. "Although we haven't reached the stage of a
breakthrough in the negotiations on Jerusalem, we can say that the talks are
continuing. The Israeli government knows that there will be no solution
without solving the problem of Jerusalem."

Abdel Qader dismissed the idea that Israel would retain control of some
parts of east Jerusalem. "Our position is, 'Take it all or leave it,'" he
said. "We have also made it clear to the Israelis that we won't accept any
partial solutions for Jerusalem. As far as we are concerned, Jerusalem must
be one geographic, political and religious unit."

He said the parties were still trying to reach an agreement over which
Jerusalem they were talking about - the city that's mentioned in United
Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 in 1947, the one that was occupied
in 1967 or the one that was expanded by Israel afterward. "On this issue,
there hasn't been any progress yet," he said.

Abdel Qader said the negotiations were not only focusing on the Arab part of
Jerusalem, but on its west as well. "There are Jews who say they have rights
and property in the eastern part of Jerusalem, and that's fine with us," he
said. "At the same time, there are Arabs who have a lot of property in the
western section of Jerusalem. So the talks are not only over the eastern
part."

As for Shas's threat to quit the coalition over the negotiations on
Jerusalem, the PA official said he could not understand why the haredi party
was upset.
"Shas is not new to Israeli politics," he said. "I can't understand why
they're so upset. What did they think, that peace could be achieved without
[dividing] Jerusalem? Have they forgotten that [then-prime minister] Ehud
Barak already offered us large parts of Jerusalem at the Camp David summit
[in 2000]?"
Abdel Qader complained that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were paying
the price for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition problems. "Olmert's
position is very weak and we have sensed this in the current negotiations,"
he said. "He's like a woman who is dying to get married, but is afraid of
becoming pregnant."

An Israeli official on Tuesday denied that the question of Jerusalem is
being discussed at this juncture in the talks between Israel and the
Palestinians. The official told The Jerusalem Post that Jerusalem is one of
the most contentious and sensitive issues and will therefore be raised only
towards the end of the negotiations.

Mark Weiss contributed to this report.