Abbas says no to Jewish state

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RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- The Palestinian Authority refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

"Don't order us to recognize a Jewish state, we won't accept it," Ynetnews.com quoted Abbas saying Saturday in response to international demands that he drop the Palestinian statehood bid and recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Abbas said the statehood bid in the United Nations next month is not aimed at isolating Israel or causing conflict with the United States.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Abbas's statements "reveal the true nature of the September motion."

"A Palestinian state comes in place of a Jewish state," Ynetnews.com quoted him saying. "Countries around the world must make it clear to Abbas that the only way the Palestinians will be able to have a state is by stopping their attempt to destroy the only Jewish state in the world."

Abbas called for recognition of "our Palestinian state with full sovereignty on the territories occupied since 1967, and obtaining full membership in the United Nations," the Ma'an news agency said.

Abbas said Israel could stop the Palestinian bid in the United Nations by accepting the 1967 borders as a basis for a two-state solution and halting to all settlement construction.

Palestinian officials estimate some 124 countries of 193 U.N. member states support the Palestinian statehood bid, Ma'an said.