Abbas wary of 'kiss of death' from Israel

Any Israeli concessions to the Acting Palestinian Authority Chief would be a "kiss of death" to him, a senior PA official says.

Israel faces growing US pressure to make more sweeping concessions to strengthen Mahmoud Abbas, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

But some of the possible concessions Israel had reportedly been considering, such as approving a second mobile-phone network in the West Bank or plans to build a new Palestinian city north of Ramallah, would now likely only do further damage, Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said.

"This will be the kiss of death for Abbas," Khatib said.

"It would give the impression that the Palestinian Authority dropped their support for the UN report in exchange for financial gains," he added.

Abbas came under fire from Palestinian factions and human rights groups over his support for the deferment of a UN vote about the Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

A UN inquiry, led by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, detailed what investigators called Israeli actions "amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity," during Israel's winter offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza.