Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a Monday night interview with Palestinian news source Ma'an that "Israel was free to call itself the Israeli Zionist Jewish Empire."

The PA leader made cynical remarks to Maan shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon Abbas to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Abbas also said that Israel's Jewishness is none of his business, but "if Israel wanted Palestinian negotiators to recognize its state, it should also recognize a Palestinian state."

Abbas added that negotiations would only continue under a settlement freeze. If the moratorium was extended for one month, he would remain in peace talks for one month, he said.
Earlier on Monday, in a conference call with US Jewish leaders sponsored by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Netanyahu demanded that Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

"Say yes, just do it," Netanyahu said.