Abbas' 3 nos to Obama

The Palestinian Authority will not agree to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, abandon the right of return or commit to an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Israel’s channel Two reported the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saying.

An anonymous US official said Abbas made the remarks during talks with US President Barack Obama at the White House during his recent visit to Washington. Abbas said “No” to the three proposals by US Secretary of State John Kerry regarding the US-backed peace agreement.

The channel reported Abbas saying: “I will not waiver the right of return for millions of Palestinians and their descendants which Israel fears could lead to a demographic imbalance.”

He also refused to commit to an “end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” which stipulates that the Palestinians will have no further demands from Israel once the peace agreement is signed by both sides.

The report said “Israel apparently does not intend to release a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners expected later this month to force Abbas to agree to extend the negotiating period which ends in April.

“The negotiations between the two sides have led to nearly no significant results to date and if both sides did not agree to extend them, it means their total failure, which the US, who acts as mediator between the two sides, is working hard to avoid.”

The Israeli report comes amid Palestinian discretion on the results of Abbas’ talks with Obama.

The Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat gave a brief statement about the talks saying, “The meeting was long and difficult and contrary to our expectations, the Americans did not come out with an official proposed framework agreement.

“Right now we are still conducting deep and seriousness talks and no one will benefit from Obama and Kerry’s success to push the peace talks forward more than the Palestinians.”