Palestinian Authority calls upon Kerry to improve his peace proposal

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has called upon US Secretary of State John Kerry to improve his proposed framework for a potential Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.

Speaking to Palestinian radio one day before a meeting between Kerry and the Arab foreign ministers in Paris, PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said: “Kerry has to improve his proposal” and “know that our demands have become Arab demands”.

Kerry discussed the peace process with Arab foreign ministers in Paris on Sunday. Al-Maliki, who attended the meeting, affirmed that: “Our message is that the Arabs refuse to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and insist that East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.”

He also pointed out that the Arabs reject any Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. Al-Maliki affirmed that, “This is what Kerry has heard and what he will continue to hear from the Arabs,” adding that, “Kerry is trying to put pressure on the PA through the Arabs, but this will not happen.”

Previously, a senior PA official had told Agence France Presse that Kerry is trying to get the PA to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Kerry told the PA that recognising Israel as a Jewish state is not only an Israeli demand, but also an American demand, too.”

The source also acknowledged that PA President Mahmoud Abbas refused this demand because the PLO already recognised the Israeli state as a result of the Oslo negotiations in 1993.

Abbas has reiterated that the PA would never recognise Israel as a Jewish state, nor accept the state of Palestine without East Jerusalem as its capital.