Report: Abbas threatened to torpedo peace talks over Kerry framework proposals

Sources say US suggested Beit Hanina, not all of east Jerusalem, to serve as capital of future Palestinian state, reports Palestinian paper.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Abbas looking unhappy 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
Abbas looking unhappy 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)
Palestinians Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was enraged last week during meetings in Paris with US Secretary of State John Kerry over proposals for a framework agreement for peace talks with Israel, Palestinian newspaper al-Quds reported Wednesday.
According to the report, Abbas threatened to torpedo talks with Israel after learning that the US-drafted framework document called to designate the neighborhood of Beit Hanina, and not the whole of east Jerusalem, as the capital of any future Palestinian state.
Abbas has stressed that he will only accept an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Al-Quds cited Palestinian sources as saying Kerry's outline did not include the Jordan Valley as part of a future Palestinian state.
Abbas reportedly rejected as "madness," the drafts demand for the Palestinians to agree to Israeli demands to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and allow for Israel to keep ten settlement blocs in any land swaps entailed in a deal.
In an attempt to appease Abbas's alleged anger over the clauses, the US invited him to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington, al-Quds claimed.
The Palestinians announced earlier this week that Obama had invited Abbas to visit Washington next month, though no final date was reported.
Last Friday, AFP quoted a Palestinian official as saying the ideas Kerry presented to Abbas could "not serve as the basis for a framework accord between the Palestinians and Israel as they do not take into account the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people".
"The Palestinian position explained to Mr Kerry is that the proposed ideas, particularly the insistence on recognition of the state of Israel as the Jewish nation-state, are unacceptable," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.