THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Monday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.
"A Jewish state, what is that supposed to mean?" Abbas asked in a speech in the West Bank's political capital of Ramallah. "You can call yourselves as you like, but I don't accept it and I say so publicly."
Abbas said the topic was "extensively discussed" and rejected by the Palestinians during a November 2007 international conference in Annapolis, near Washington, at which the two sides relaunched peace negotiations.
Netanyahu has demanded the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state as part of an eventual peace deal. >>> AFP | Tuesday, April 28, 2009
