[Al Arabiya Latest] Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday refused to accept Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as rival Palestinian delegations from Fatah and Hamas met in Cairo in a last bid to end feud. "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, during which the two sides re-launched peace negotiations.
Netanyahu demanded the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state as part of an eventual peace deal. Such a move would amount to an effective renunciation of the right of return of refugees from the1948 Arab-Israeli war, when Israel was created, a cherished principle of the Palestinians.