The Palestinian envoy in London has been summoned to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah after he endorsed recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Manuel Hassassian, who is the Palestinian Authority’s envoy to Britain since 2005, co-authored with Professor Rafael Cohen-Almagor, an Israeli academic based at Hull University, an article in Fathom, a quaterly journal published by the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (Bicom) pro-Israel group, setting out the potential terms of a peace agreement with Israel.
In the article, titled ‘’The Two-State Solution: The Way Forward’’, under a section headed "mutual recognition", it stated: ‘’Israel shall recognise the state of Palestine. Palestine shall recognize the Jewish state of Israel."
"Ramallah was very angry with this statement. This is not the position of the Palestinian Authority," said Amal Jadou, head of the PA foreign ministry's European desk. She said Mr Hassassian had been ordered to report to Ramallah, to give an explanation.
Hassassian said that his views had been ‘’misunderstood’’ and that the article had been published before he had a chance to review its final version.
“I didn’t read the final version and my friend, Professor Cohen-Almagor, has published it,” he told The Telegraph. “He wrote the article and I made some input. He submitted it, not me. It feels like being tricked. I’m really upset.”
Hassassian said that recognizing Israel as a Jewish state was at this point “out of the question,” though he did not rule out the possibility that the notion may be discussed by Israel and the Palestinians in the future.
“Perhaps when there is a Palestinian state and there is an official end to the conflict, then [recognition of Israel as a Jewish state] may be considered, but not at this stage.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has so far refused to explicitly recognise Israel's Jewish identity, a a demand repeatedly made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu considers this refusal as the main source of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.