RAMALLAH, west bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent a defiant message to Israel’s leadership and U.S. mediators Saturday, telling cheering supporters that the Palestinians “won’t kneel” and won’t drop demands for a capital in east Jerusalem.
Abbas’ unusually fiery speech highlighted the gaps between him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the outlines of a peace deal.
It also raised doubts about the chances of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to bridge those gaps and come up with a framework for an agreement.
Abbas adopted tough positions in the speech, saying that “there will be no peace” without a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem and that he would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
“We will not recognize it,” Abbas said. “We will not accept and it’s our right not to recognize the Jewish state.”
Netanyahu has raised such a demand, and there is growing expectation that it will be included in Kerry’s proposal.
Abbas also suggested he would not negotiate beyond a U.S.-set target date of the end of April and instead will resume his quest for broader international recognition of a state of Palestine by the United Nations and its various agencies.
Abbas and Netanyahu were far apart in their positions when Kerry pressured them to resume talks in July after a five-year break. It appears little progress has been made since then.
Kerry is expected to present his bridging proposals for a framework agreement in coming weeks.
He was to meet this week with representatives of the Arab League, presumably to win their backing for U.S. proposals, but it’s not clear when he would formally present his ideas to Abbas and Netanyahu.
Both leaders face tough decisions on whether to accept the U.S. ideas and alienate their base or defy Kerry and risk being blamed for the collapse of the negotiations.
