Abbas claims to recognize Israel, but not as a Jewish state

“The President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday [May 3, 2013] that the American administration is now trying to reach a workable framework to renew negotiations… The President said: ‘If we will be asked to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, we’ll refuse, because we already recognized the State of Israel, but if Israel wants to go to the UN and change its name to whatever it wants, that’s its own business.’”