The Times of Israel on Wednesday conveyed leaks from Israeli negotiators revealing that Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas had repeatedly rebuffed a series of Israeli proposals aimed at bridging the gaps regarding Jerusalem’s long-standing condition that the Palestinians acknowledge Israel as a “Jewish state”:

The terminology recognizing Israel’s Jewish character sought by Israel and rejected by the Palestinians during negotiations in recent months was not a blunt acknowledgement of Israel as a Jewish state, but a much more nuanced and gentle formulation, The Times of Israel has learned.

Indeed, Israeli negotiators were willing to work with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his team on the wording of the desired declaration, towards a formula that would have described the Jewish people’s and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination in precisely equivalent terms, and would have also included phrases to guarantee the rights of Israel’s Arab minority.

The Palestinians, however, were adamant in refusing to consider the idea.

The Times of Israel went on to describe the Israeli formula as one in which “both the Jewish people and the Palestinian people [would] mutually recognize each other’s rights to sovereignty in the framework of an agreement that would end all remaining claims,” noting that there would be a clause that “explicitly state[d] that a recognition of the Jewish state does not in any way impact on the status of non-Jewish Israelis, and does not coerce the Palestinians into accepting Israel’s historical narrative.”

The story, which is likely to deepen skepticism regarding Abbas’s willingness to seal a comprehensive peace agreement, aligns with months of previous reporting. Abbas had been explicit in late March that he opposed “even holding a discussion” on Israel’s demand, which was and is considered a proxy for the Palestinians’ willingness to genuinely renounce claims against the Jewish state.

The Palestinian leader had publicly underlined his stance as recently as April 26th, bluntly telling the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Central Council that Palestinian negotiators would never acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state. Agence France-Presse (AFP) secured a quote about Abbas’s speech from Bassem Naim, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh:

“The speech had mostly positive points, and we cannot but support it on topics such as Jerusalem, reconciliation and not recognizing (Israel as) the Jewish state, in addition to the failure of (peace) negotiations,” Bassem Naim, an adviser to Hamas’ Gaza Strip prime minister Ismail Haniya, told AFP.

[Photo: AFP / YouTube]