Palestinians of various political factions slammed Islamist Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas for his recent favorable statements about Israel.
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"Israel was born a Jewish state, that was the decision of the people, and the question is not: What is the identity of the state? It was born this way, and it will remain this way," Abbas said in an interview with Channel 12 News on Tuesday.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who repeatedly refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, expressed anger over the statements.
"These irresponsible statements are consistent with the calls of extremists in Israel to displace the Palestinians and harm the status of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the history of the Palestinian people," he said in a statement, according to Palestinian news site WAFA.
"Mansour Abbas, with such statements, represents only himself, and does not represent the Palestinian people at home and everywhere in the world," he said.
The Palestinian leader's Fatah party released their own statement of condemnation as well.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee – consisting of representatives of several Palestinian factions – expressed "strong condemnation and denunciation" of Abbas' statements.
The Palestinian People's Party condemned Abbas saying, the position "represents a cheap alignment with the Zionist narrative and its goals based on uprooting and displacing our people," WAFA reported.
Hamas released a statement as well, saying it "is a clear violation of the Palestinian national consensus that rejects and denounces the Zionist claims."
Even fellow Arab MK Ahmad Tibi told Arabic-language Nas Radio that Abbas made "a major political mistake. When you say that Israel is a Jewish state, you are actually accepting the Zionist narrative and cancelling the Palestinian narrative."
This past summer, Abbas made history when he became the first Arab party leader to join a coalition government. The so-called "change" coalition government unseated Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years as Israel's longest-serving prime minister.
From his position within the governing coalition, Abbas successfully pushed to increase funding for the Arab sector to tackle rampant crime and economic and social problems. The recently approved state budget includes $10 billion for the Arab sector to those ends.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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