'No Jewish state'
Erekat and Rice
Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams met in Jerusalem on Monday night for talks to lay groundwork for the Annapolis summit in late November.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat described the meeting as “difficult,” while Jerusalem officials claimed that the negotiations were conducted in a good atmosphere and ran smoothly.
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According to Erekat, one of the more pressing problems is Israel’s insistence on being recognized as a Jewish state. He said that while the Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist, “we will not agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”
Prior to Monday evening’s meeting, Erekat had expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Radio Palestine. "There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined," he said.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert dismissed Erekat’s remarks during Monday morning’s Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting. “I have no doubt that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad are committed to agreements and want to make peace with Israel as a Jewish state,” said Olmert, adding, “I also have no doubt that they are the only leaders on the Palestinian side who we can negotiate with.”
Nevertheless, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman was less flippant of Erekat’s comments, urging the cabinet to approve that future negotiations with the Palestinians be conditioned on their recognition of the state of Israel as a Jewish and Zionist state.
“The dispute is not territorial, rather it is over the identity of the state of Israel,” wrote Lieberman in a letter he sent to Olmert on Monday evening.Olmert also told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Annapolis conference would last for a single day. The conference, the prime minister said, would serve to launch negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and be a one-time event “geared towards garnering international support for peace talks.”
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