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Ramallah, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Jan 28, 2011 Position papers given to AFP show Palestinian negotiators took firmer stances on final status issues in June 2010 than those detailed in documents leaked by Al-Jazeera. The papers, shown to AFP on Friday by a senior Palestinian official on condition of anonymity, purportedly contain the negotiating position the Palestinians laid out ahead of direct talks with Israel in September 2010. They restate long-standing Palestinian positions on the sensitive issues of Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. They were presented as a form of rebuttal after criticism of Palestinian negotiators and president Mahmud Abbas, who appear in the hundreds of leaked papers offering unprecedented concessions on Jerusalem and the right of return. "They are the original documents that were officially presented to Israel and the United States," said the official who showed the papers to AFP. The documents do not appear among the 1,600 leaked by Al-Jazeera this week, which have roiled the Palestinian Authority and exacerbated Palestinian divisions. The files released by Al-Jazeera contain minutes of discussions between Israel, the United States and Palestinians, in which Palestinian negotiators offered to cede large parts of east Jerusalem to the Jewish state and conceded that only limited numbers of Palestinian refugees would be able to return home. The papers shown to AFP spell out a firmer line, which negotiators presented to the United States, Israel and Arab nations before starting talks with Israel in September 2010, the first between the two sides in almost two years. They call on Israel to recognise the right of return for all Palestinians made refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948, and state that the Palestinians expect all of east Jerusalem to become their future capital. "Israel's recognition of the right of return will pave the way to negotiating how that right will be implemented," one document read. "Palestinian refugees must be allowed to choose how to implement their rights and normalise their status," it adds, proposing four options for refugees -- a return to Israel, resettlement in a future Palestinian state, integration in host nations, or resettlement in third countries. The paper calls for "Israel's recognition of its role in the creation and perpetuation of the Palestinian refugee catastrophe." It also seeks "full and complete" compensation for refugees if they do not receive "restitution" in the form of the return of lost land or homes. "The recognition of the right of return and of the right to claim restitution and compensation will not... create any existential crisis for Israel," the document reads. A separate document on Jerusalem states the negotiators' official position on the city, one of the most contentious core issues at stake in negotiations. "Pursuant to our vision, east Jerusalem, as defined by its pre-1967 occupation municipal borders, shall be the capital of Palestine," the paper reads. Both documents on Jerusalem and refugees also carry the same disclaimer" "This paper is for discussion purposes only, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."
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