Abbas says 'no' to Jewish state

International efforts to try to convince Mahmoud Abbas to give up his plans to file a proposal for recognition at the UN concluded Monday morning with no results, and will resume later in the day after Abbas' arrival to the United States.   
Before landing in New York Monday morning, Abbas told reporters on the plane that he expects the Palestinians to be in a "very difficult situation" after the UN membership bid.

 The Palestinian president urged Israel once again to recognize the Palestinian state and "not to miss out on a chance for peace."  Earlier on Monday, Israeli officials admitted that the Palestinians' plans for the coming week remain a mystery.   "It is unclear to us whether Abbas intends to go all the way," political officials said while noting that the US continues to exert "intense pressure" in order to prevent the Palestinian UN bid.

 Representatives of the Mideast Quartet met Sunday night in New York to discuss the matter, following a meeting between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.   "We are meeting to talk about the way forward," Clinton said as she shook hands with Ashton in a New York hotel. She declined to say if mediators were making progress.

The representatives joined Ashton and Clinton in order to formulate another proposal, according to which the Palestinian Authority will hold direct negotiations with Israel based on the June 4 1967 borders with land swaps. In return, Abbas is required to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and declare the end of the conflict, while agreeing to appropriate security arrangements.

 
However, the meeting ended several hours later due to Abbas' refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. In addition, certain disagreements between the American and European positions remained unsolved.