Washington - After Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration of "historic compromise" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to effect a peace deal while in Washington, DC last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed and denied many of the prime minister's compromise issues, The Jerusalem Postreported Tuesday.The president made his comments in an interview with Al-Quds newspaper, JPost said.
Abbas said no compromises would be made on Jerusalem or borders, the report said. The Palestinian president said further that the Palestinians would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state (the PLO, the official representative of the Palestinian people, recognized the state of Israel in the 90s):
"We're not talking about a Jewish state and we won't talk about one," Abbas said in an interview with the semi-official Al-Quds newspaper. "For us, there is the state of Israel and we won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state."
Abbas elaborated, saying that in meetings with Jewish community leaders in the US, he had already made it plain that recognizing Israel as a Jewish state was not on the Palestinian agenda. Abbas was quoted: "I told them that this is their business and that they are free to call themselves whatever they want ... But [I told them] you can't expect us to accept this."Abbas said the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is a means to strip Palestinian-Israelis of their rights, JPost reported. President Abbas continued, saying it is also an attempt by PM Netanyahu to block Palestinian refugees from returning to homes and lands inside Green-LineIsrael lost in 1948, the report said.
As many Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have mentioned before, Abbas also addressed the prospect of dismantling the PA, created during the Oslo peace process in the 1990s. Abbas said dismantling the PA is possible is the peace talks go nowhere.
"However, he stressed that this option was not on the table at present," JPost said.
