TOP PALI "NEGOTIATOR," "WE WON'T ACCEPT ISRAEL AS JEWISH STATE

Erekat: We won't accept Jewish Israel (JPost)
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday rejected Israel's demand that the Palestinians acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state.

"There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined," Erekat told Radio Palestine. [ED. APPARENTLY HE'S NEVER VISITED ANY OF THE ARAB/MUSLIM STATES IN THE REGION].

Additionally, Erekat said, when agreements are signed, the Palestinians would demand that Israel make a commitment in writing to releasing all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said in response that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insists that the Palestinians recognize Israel's Jewish identity, as a condition for Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state.

The official added that Israel would not commit to releasing Palestinian prisoners outside the framework of doing so as a gesture of goodwill towards the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Olmert told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the peace conference scheduled to take place in Annapolis in late November would last for a single day.