PA Negotiator Erekat Addresses Reporters With Secretary Kerry. Photo: State Depatment.

JNS.org – The Palestinians cannot accept Israel as the Jewish state because they lived in the region long before the Jews, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said over the weekend, Israel Hayom reported.

Speaking with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni at the Munich Security Conference, Erekat rejected the Israeli request that the Palestinians recognize it as the Jewish homeland.

“When you say, ‘Accept Israel as a Jewish state,’ you are asking me to change my narrative,” he said.

Erekat justified his claim by saying his ancestors were the real descendants of the Canaanities and lived in the area for “5,500 years before Joshua Bin-Nun came and burned my hometown, Jericho.”