US Denies Kerry Pressing Arab League To Recognize Israel As Jewish State

[Purveyor]

With US Secretary of State John Kerry scheduled to meet top Arab League officials next week, State Department officials denied efforts were under way to get the league to alter its 2002 peace initiative and recognize Israel as a Jewish state, thereby paving the way for the Palestinians to do the same.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, at her daily press briefing Wednesday afternoon in Washington, denied reports that Kerry was pressing the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia to alter the Arab League peace initiative.

Kerry met the kings of both countries on Sunday, and is scheduled to meet in Paris in the coming days with representatives of the Arab League’s Arab Peace Initiative Follow-up Committee to update them on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, as part of his continued efforts to drum up wide Arab support for the negotiations.

“It would not be accurate to say there was an attempt to change the Arab Peace Initiative,” Psaki said.

Despite persistent questioning on the matter, Psaki would not say whether the US would like to see a change on this matter in the Arab league plan.

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http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/US-denies-Kerry-pressing-Arab-League-to-recognize-Israel-as-Jewish-state-337729

[Violet_Crumble]

1. I think there's more important things to deal with than that...

Really, it'd be pretty silly to run round demanding that everyone identify Israel how it wants to be called. When it comes to that sort of thing, it's up to Israel to call itself what it wants, and it doesn't matter what anyone calls it apart from Israel. Though of course this is the changing of the goalposts thing that happened after demands to recognise Israel's existence happened. Now it's apparently not good enough for Israel, who's added something else on, and if everyone did it, Israel would then change the goalposts again...

[azurnoir]

2. The Arab Peace Initiative has already been altered within the last year or so

however considering other developments such as Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman 's demand that Israeli Arabs be transferred to a Palestinian State makes this especially good news