Israel Protests Palestinian Leaks on ‘Temporary Borders’ Over Rosh Hashana

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By JTA September 8, 2013

Israel has protested what it says are Palestinian officials’ leaks to the media about the content of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Israeli peace negotiator Isaac Molho, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy to the peace talks, in a call over the weekend to his U.S. counterpart Martin Indyk, complained about the numerous leaks to the media by named and unnamed Palestinian officials. He said the leaks “violated all the agreements” that the two sides had agreed to with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Haaretz reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official.

At the beginning of the talks in Washington in July both sides agreed to maintain silence on the time, place and content of the meetings, reportedly at Kerry’s request.

Last week on erev Rosh Hashanah in an interview with the Voice of Palestine radio, Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, said that there has been “no progress” in the talks and that it will require pressure from the United States in order to move forward toward peace.

Several other named and unnamed Palestinian officials similarly declared that the peace talks were stagnating during interviews given over Israel’s long holiday weekend.

The leaks said Israel has proposed “provisional” borders for a future state of Palestine, a plan that would allow Israel to maintain control of about 40% of the West Bank indefinitely. Palestinians have angrily rejected that concept.

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