Ya Libnan

Fatah endorses rejection of Jewishness of Israel

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abbas in RamallahThe Revolutionary Council of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday unanimously endorsed his rejection of demands to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, officials at the meeting told AFP.

“President Abbas has reaffirmed his refusal to recognize the Jewishness of the State of Israel and council members stood up to hail this decision,” a senior Fatah official said from the meeting in Ramallah.

Abbas said in his speech to delegates that “at 79 years old, he wasn’t going to back down on his people’s rights or betray their cause”, despite the “great pressure being exerted”, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made recognising Israel as a Jewish state a central issue of peace negotiations, calling it the root of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

Palestinians reject that claim, underlining that they already recognised Israel in 1993 and saying that enshrining it as a “Jewish state” would jeopardise Palestinian refugees’ right to return home.

Abbas is to travel to the United States on an official visit next week, including a meeting with US President Barack Obama on March 17.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been leading the latest push for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, prodding the two sides to sign a “framework agreement” on definitively resolving issues that have long troubled negotiations, including borders, Israeli settlements, security, the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

The US has appeared to back the recognition of Israel as a “Jewish state”, but the State Department insisted Friday that the issue was still up for negotiation.

“If you look at the issue of a Jewish state and whether Israel will be called a Jewish state, that’s been our position, as you know, for a long time, but that doesn’t reflect what the parties will agree to… and of course there are many issues like that that are being discussed as part of the framework,” said spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

AFP

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6 responses to “Fatah endorses rejection of Jewishness of Israel”

  1. cook2half Avatar
    cook2half

    “underlining that they already recognised Israel in 1993” – wrong, they never changed their charter.

    “would jeopardise Palestinian refugees’ right to return home.” – I’m glad they finally get the idea

    1. master09 Avatar
      master09

      Looks like driving down from Lebanon may not happen for a very long long time. Sad that makes me with more wars on the way.

      1. cook2half Avatar
        cook2half

        Wars from Lebanon that have nothing to do with Lebanon, just Iran waging war on Syria and Israel through its colonies.

  2. doron Avatar
    doron

    never recocnised israel !!

    they keep refering to that “arafat letter” as legaly valid while conviniatly forget the last sentence: ” the PLO undertakes to submit to thePalestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant.”- never happened! PA national council never approved that.

    it is a pattern with Palis..they always tend to forget what they should do to assure israel they really seek peace

  3. nagy_michael2 Avatar
    nagy_michael2

    Enough of this rejection.. You recognize Israel and Israel recognize a palestinians autonomy. otherwise we in Lebanon and all over the world are tired of these silly acts. get your shit together or fight each other somewhere were we don’t have to get involved. Enough of this love and hate relationship.. and to say they came from the same father. I guess King Suleiman slept with too many women then the Palestinians and Israelis do not know that the’re related..

  4. Adam Yonatan Ben Yoel Avatar
    Adam Yonatan Ben Yoel

    The only concessions the Palestinianianianianianianian leadership have ever agreed to are 1.) To hypothetically agree on paper (like the one the Cairo and Melkhart accords were printed on!) to stop shooting and incitement at some point in future. 2.) To recognize that an entity/situation that goes by the name ‘Israel’ currently exists.

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