President of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of Fatah Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: WEF

Officials from Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center hit back at comments made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that any future Palestinian state would be bereft of Israelis.

“Abbas’ vision of peace in the Holy Land is duplicitous and repugnant and only serves to undermine Secretary of State Kerry’s peace initiative,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s associate dean.

“The bitter irony is that Abbas has made a career out of rejecting Israel as a Jewish State, yet has the audacity to claim for himself that the future Palestinian state will be cleansed of Jews,” they continued.

“Abbas and his supporters continue to libel Israel as a racist and apartheid state—despite the fact that nearly 20% of Israeli citizens are Christians and Muslims.  Now as renewed peace talks struggle to gain traction, he has signaled Israelis that the neighbor who will be sharing the Holy Land plans to exclude all Jews from its domain,” Rabbi Hier and Rabbi Cooper concluded.

During a press briefing in Cairo earlier this week Abbas laid out his vision of the demographics of any future Palestinian state:

“In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli—civilian or soldier—on our lands,” he said.

Direct peace talks resumed in Washington on Monday, with both sides agreeing to meet again in two weeks, setting as their goal to work out a comprehensive peace agreement within nine months.