BICOM

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas repeated his refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and reiterated a number of demands during meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris.

Kerry is expected to present his eagerly awaited framework plan for final status talks in the coming weeks. There has been plenty of speculation over the details included in the plan, which Kerry hopes both Israeli and Palestinian leaders will agree to with possible reservations and will serve as a basis for extending peace talks beyond their original April deadline. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit the White House in early March, Kerry met Abbas twice over the last two days in Paris to discuss the issues.

Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told the Palestinian WAFA news agency that “the firm and unwavering Palestinian position is the position of President Mahmoud Abbas,” and that Abbas told Kerry he would not accept any framework or final agreement which does not include this. Abu Rudeineh explained that the position “says that there will be no state without East Jerusalem as its capital, no to recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, settlements are illegitimate, the Palestinian state should be established on the 1967 borders, there should be a just solution to the refugees issue and the prisoners should be released.”

The recognition of Israel as a characteristically Jewish state is a key demand by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu who views it as mutual recognition which is at the foundation of a two-state solution. Maariv this morning claims that US officials have suggested the United Nations and Arab League grant such recognition, relieving the PA of the necessity to do so explicitly.

Meanwhile, AFP quoted a senior US State Department official who said that Kerry and Abbas would stay in touch during the coming weeks “to continue their constructive conversations on a framework for negotiations.”