"We express our total rejection of the call to consider Israel as a Jewish state," said the Wednesday declaration, issued at the end of the two-day meeting in Kuwait City.

The Arab League had already rejected the demand from the US and the Israeli regime to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, in a statement issued from its Cairo headquarters earlier this month.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is facing an uphill battle to keep peace talks on track beyond an April 29 deadline, with the negotiations waylaid over several key issues, including the question of recognition.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has made it clear that he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Israeli regime’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has placed the recognition dispute at the forefront of the talks, describing Arab rejection of the Jewish state as the "root of the conflict".

For the Palestinians, the issue is intimately entwined with the fate of their refugees who were forced out of their homes or fled in 1948. They see Netanyahu's demand as a way to sidestep a negotiated solution to the refugee question.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks broke down in 2010 after the Tel Aviv regime refused to halt its settlement construction.

Israel has defied demands by the international community to stop construction of new settlements in West Bank and East al-Quds.

NTJ/NJF