Mahmoud Abbas on Unwillingness to Call Israel a Jewish State

“The ‘Jewish State.’ What is a ‘Jewish State?’ We call it, the ‘State of Israel.’ You can call yourselves whatever you want. But I will not accept it. And I say this on a live broadcast. It’s not my job to define it, to provide a definition for the state and what it contains. You can call yourselves the Zionist Republic, the Hebrew, the National, the Socialist [Republic] call it whatever you like. I don’t care.” Abbas’ refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state keeps alive the Palestinian hope that Palestinians will someday go to what is present day Israel, and change its demography to be, if not a bi-national state, then a state where the Jews are the eventual minority.