Abbas refuses to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state.

The PA endeavored to produce a legalistic argument that is, in any event, a total distortion. How thin a reed to rely on and how transparently tricky these folks are!

Abbas Rejects Calling Israel a Jewish State - Isabel Kershner
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas on Monday dismissed a demand by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Palestinian negotiators have long refused to recognize Israel's Jewish character. In an attempt to bolster the Palestinian argument, Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide and veteran negotiator, on Monday produced a copy of a letter signed by President Harry S Truman on May 14, 1948. In its original form, it recognizes the provisional government of the new Jewish state, but the typed words "Jewish state" in the second paragraph have been crossed out and replaced with the handwritten "State of Israel."
Shlomo Avineri, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Erekat was misinterpreting the American president's intention. The Truman letter had been prepared hours before Israel declared its independence, before the new country had chosen its name. It was later corrected by a Truman adviser, Clark M. Clifford, after the declaration of independence in order to call the country by its name, not to deny its Jewish character. (New York Times)
****It's hard to believe that Erekat was not DELIBERATELY misrepresenting the historical record, not merely misinterpreting it. Can one trust such people? On the other hand, they have invariably, over many years, given affirmative reasons to DISTRUST them. And Clinton/Obama want to push through a "two-state" situation without clearing up this nonsense? It must be very hard to be diplomatic. ****

http://tinyurl.com/daozus
The current administration that is so persistent on the need to honor "past agreeemnts" seems to ignore unwavering support by past Presidents and both Houses of Congress for reconstructing the JEWISH national home in Palestine:
U.S. Resolution 322 June 30, 1922 "...irrevocable right of Jews to settle in ...Palestine--anywhere between the Jordan and ...Mediterranean.
President Woodrow Wilson March 3, 1919: "...the Allied nations, with ...our own government and people, ...agreed ...in Palestine shall be laid ...a Jewish Commonwealth.
President Warren G. Harding September 21, 1922: Signed Lodge-Fish joint resolution ...establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
President Calvin Coolidge March 2, 1925 (after Senate ratified February 20, 1925: "...the U.S. ...recognized and confirmed the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in ...Palestine--anywhere between the Jordan... and the Mediterranean..."
U.S. Congressional Record 9801 (1922) : "Palestine of today...believe in the necessity of reestablishing the Jewish land...something prophetic ...that during the ages no other national has taken over Palestine and helt it in the sense of a homeland; and ...for 1800 years it has remained in desolution as if waiting the return of its people."