Saeb Erekat admits it was never about land.

Erekat admits it was never about land.(Guardian).

Erekat “Israelis cannot deny that I have my own narrative, I have my religion, I have my story,” he said. “When they ask me to recognise the Jewish state, what they are doing is asking me to change my narrative.”

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas showed Barack Obama what his negotiator called “a very ugly map” of recently constructed Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, amid concern peace talks may be about to fall apart.

His chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who was present at the meeting between Abbas and Obama at the White House, said on Tuesday that the encounter had been “candid” and “difficult”.

Erekat said the Palestinian delegation showed the US president a map showing 10,589 housing settlement units he said were built on Palestinian-claimed territory since negotiations began less than eight months ago.

“We put a map to president Obama – showed him the extent of what happened since we began in July,” Erekat said, showing the same map to an audience at the Wilson Center thinktank in Washington.

“It is a very ugly map. This was supposed to be land of the Palestinian state.” 

Describing how Israeli settlements weaken his hand in Palestinian negotiators, Erekat added: “I cannot weigh two kilos in Jericho and weigh 100 kilos in Washington, I really cannot.”

The Palestinian demand that refugees should have the right to return to their former homes is also being discussed, as well as Israel’s demand that the Palestinians recognise it as a Jewish state.

Erekat insisted Palestine would not interfere with how Israelis “want to define themselves”, but said it was unwarranted to insist Palestinians should recognise Israel as a specifically Jewish state.
“Israelis cannot deny that I have my own narrative, I have my religion, I have my story,” he said. “When they ask me to recognise the Jewish state, what they are doing is asking me to change my narrative.”Hmmm.....Perhaps Erekat should read: Koran 7:7, where G-d Himself bequeaths the Land of Israel to the Jews, as a nation who thought themselves weak, and blesses them with goodness." Read the full story here.