[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: One has to wonder about Gershon Baskin's sense of
humor. He gets a PA official to claim in a letter that the PLO respects the
Oslo Agreement vis-a-vis Joseph's Tomb when he knows that the PA not only
allowed the holy site to be ransacked, burned and worse back in October
2000 - they allowed for gross elements of the carnage to remain at the site
for many years following the attack.]

Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine National Authority
Office of the President

18 April 2009

Mr. Gershon Baskin
Israel/Palestinian Center for Research and Information (ICPRI)

Dear Mr. Baskin,

The PLO sticks by the Oslo agreement as the framework for
Israeli-Palestinian interim bilateral relations. Therefore, and since
"Joseph's Tomb" is recognized as a Jewish Holy place in the Oslo Agreement,
the PLO reiterates and respects what has been agreed upon in the Agreement
with regards to that site. At the same time, the PLO expects that Moslem
holy/historic places in the Ma'man Allah (Mamilla) Islamic Cemetery in
Jerusalem be respected and not be removed under any pretext.

Yours sincerely,
Rafik Husseini

[Bureau chief to Mahmoud Abbas]