The video above shows protesters breaking into al-Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah earlier today. They are chanting “Al Jazeera are traitors” and “don’t film.” Alan Fisher, an Al Jazeera English correspondent, tweeted the following earlier this morning:
Angry crowd has appeared in front of the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah. There is some shouting but no violence
The crowd has managed to get into the office in Ramaallah. #aljazeera’s staff is ok. Some walls have graffiti
Just spoken to the team in Ramallah. Everyone is fine – crowd have gone. Police protecting building. #palestine papers
Sources say the protesters are PA-loyalists affiliated with Fatah.
Here are two reports from Al Jazeera English on responses to the Palestine Papers in Jerusalem and Ramallah:
Meanwhile, The Guardian is reporting on some earlier responses to the leak in Gaza (“anger and disbelief”) According to reporter Hazem Balousha:
Tailor Maher Mohammad, 50, said the revelations were incredible. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I watched it, this is cheating to Palestinian people. Jerusalem is a holy land, nobody can make concessions regarding it because it’s not for Palestinians only but for all Muslims.”
Mahmoud Ismael, 58, a shopkeeper, questioned the motives of the person who leaked the documents. Palestinians, he added, expected little from their leaders whether Fatah or Hamas. “Both of them don’t care about Palestine, they care only about their benefits,” he said.
Salah Bardaweel, a senior Hamas leader, said the organisation was studying the document. “We are asking the president Mahmoud Abbas to go to the public and announce his position on what was leaked by Al Jazeera, and make it clear we don’t accept that and assure the Palestinian principles on the key issues.”
The main problem now, he added, was “not between Hamas and Fatah, it’s now between the Palestinian people and the Palestinian negotiator”.
